Mr. Holmes

1

You shouldn't do that.

Tap the glass.

How did you know I was going to?

You must forgive my son. He loves bees.

It isn't a bee. It's a wasp.

Different thing entirely.

Was that him?

Ah, the prodigal returns.

Ooh.

Outside, Roger.

You know you're not allowed.

Like having a Welsh pony.

Will you be going up to your study?

No, not as yet.

Ah, yes. Home again.

Home again.

Mrs Munro!

It would appear we've had

a decrease in population.

Did Mr Healy not come by to take care

of the apiary whilst I was gone?

Yes, but he won't be able

to do it next time.

- Did Mr Healy say that?

- No, his daughter did.

She's taken him to live with her.

Too feeble, she said.

- Is he too feeble?

- Seemed spry enough.

- Chattier, maybe.

- With you?

With himself.

Key to the study.

- Is that lunch?

- Mm.

"Watson had married and I was alone.

"In fact, it was on the very day

he left Baker Street,

"that the case which was

to be my last began to unfold.

"It was almost 30 years ago.

The Great War had ended

"and the tourists

had come back to Baker Street

"to catch a glimpse

of the real Sherlock Holmes.

"Thankfully, in his stories,

"Watson had always published

a false address for our actual quarters."

So you found the right address.

- Why did you do it?

- Sir?

Break into my study.

My study is my sanctum sanctorum.

Private place.

Before you went to Japan,

I saw you writing that story.

I didn't know you wrote stories.

Oh, Dr Watson, yes, he was the writer.

Well, so I borrowed Mum's key and

went into your study, and there it was.

And how much did you read?

Just to where you stopped.

It was a good part too.

A man comes to Baker Street. You say,

"You've come about your wife."

How could you tell?

Did you do the thing?

What thing would that be?

"The cane shows the marks

of a dog's teeth.

"The wood is from an island

southwest of Madeira."

That thing.

And how would you tell

that a man's visit was about his wife?

He wears a wedding ring?

No. The clues are all on that page.

This sentence, to be exact.

"One day, into the room

came a young man,

"in newly-pressed,

albeit inexpensive clothes."

The clothes are freshly-pressed.

He's a young man, though.

Not expensive clothes.

Then his wife must press them.

Men don't have the talent

and he can't afford a servant to do so.

Very good.

- That's how you knew it was about the wife.

- Well, no.

When you're a detective

and a man comes to visit you...

It's usually about his wife.

So why did you stop where you did?

Ahh...

Ah, did you get the things

from the chemist?

On order. Said it would be a few days.

We'll hold them to that.

Otherwise, triumphant, were you?

Like V-E Day.

Oh. Doctor's here.

- Did you catch cold in Japan?

- Does it sound it?

I thought you might be coming off

the tail end of something.

- Lost some weight as well.

- Hm.

Did you find what you were looking for,

the mysterious ashy prick?

- Prickly Ash.

- Oh, yes, sorry.

That was the reason the fellow

invited you to Japan, wasn't it?

Dig up a pile of the stuff,

smuggle it home?

It can't interfere

with anything you've prescribed.

- But surely it can't do me ill.

- In and of itself, no.

- You mean there might be side effects?

- Perhaps.

- Such as?

- Hope.

What was the name of the fellow

who invited you to Japan?

You just spent a week with the man,

corresponded with him for months.

Do you recall his name?

There's a flat adjacent to my surgery

that's gone to let...

No!

What happens when you don't recall

where the telephone is,

or you forget to turn off the gas?

- You can't live alone.

- I don't live alone.

I have the housekeeper.

Take this diary.

Each day you don't recall

a name or place,

make a mark on the page

for that day's date.

And if I forget to make the mark?

Oh... Mm.

No, no, no. No. No, no, no.

- It's the Royal Jelly.

- Yes, well, we're not using it any more.

Instead, we're going to use this.

- It's called Prickly Ash.

- Is it food?

Mm...

Eurgh. Looks like it came out

the down-spout.

It came from Japan.

That makes all the difference.

You add it in as you would

the Royal Jelly, in the tea or the coffee.

And you should try cooking with it

to enhance your specialities.

Mr Holmes?

Mr Holmes?

Tamiki Umezaki.

Welcome to Japan.

I am so honoured

you have accepted my invitation.

We spend tonight at my house.

Tomorrow we begin our search.

I have owned your book for 20 years.

I purchased my copy

when it first appeared in print.

I hope you'll do me the honour

of a personal inscription.

Oh, yes. Of course.

Um...

Mr Umezaki, how close to the city

does the Prickly Ash grow?

It is found mostly near the sea.

And how far shall we have to go?

Where I am thinking

is two days' journey by train.

You are very eager?

I'm in the middle of a project

that I'm keen to finish

and my wits must be at their sharpest.

I want to be able to benefit

from the effect as soon as possible.

- It's that urgent?

- I fear it's so.

You are very great detective!

Thank you very much.

My mother, she wonders

if you have brought your famous hat.

Oh, the deer stalker.

That was an embellishment

of the illustrator.

I've never worn one.

- And the pipe?

- I prefer a cigar.

I told Watson,

if I ever write a story myself,

it will be to correct

the million misconceptions

created by his imaginative licence.

Did you write such a story?

But I'm trying to do so now.

Hm.

I must finish with you before I die.

"So you've come about your wife."

"You've come about your wife."

"You've come..."

Roger.

Here.

I'll see you after lunch.

I'm going to need some help

with the bees.

So you found the right address.

A friendly porter at 221 B...

It's just a minor fiction

to mislead the curious.

Most of them seem to be American.

Have a seat, Mr Kelmot.

So...

You've come about your wife.

- How did you know?

- It doesn't matter.

Tell me what you have to say.

My wife is named Ann.

Her mother died in childbirth.

Her father was a colonel,

killed in that business at Waziristan.

We wanted very much to have children.

She lost our first child

in her third month...

Our second in her fourth.

We were told

it was too dangerous to try again.

Ann was... Distraught.

It was as though each of them lost

had been a real child, as opposed to...

Thank you.

For a time, she even insisted

I have a pair of headstones carved

and placed in our cemetery plot,

as if their bodies were buried beneath.

She was in desperate need of something

to soothe this dangerous melancholy.

She liked music

so I suggested the glass armonica.

- The armonica?

- My father's most prized possession.

He played it constantly

till the day he died.

I had it brought to the house

and arranged a month's worth of lessons.

One hour per week.

Soon Ann asked me if she could

increase the lessons to twice a week.

Then three times. Then every day.

So, she took up the avocation

you hoped she would.

Why are you here, Mr Kelmot?

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