Then again to assure himself as well as me Holmes commented to Wells almost as if a question “It is good to know that such a machine is purely a work of only fiction and imagination then.” With that observation Wells looked like he wanted to share some dark secret because he paused before answering “I have not been entirely truthful with my readers and both of you on that matter.”
Holmes interest was piqued with Wells surprising statement and while looking directly at him Holmes queried “How so?” Wells looking almost relieved to share his secret replied
“I have long thought that it might be possible, in theory at least to have a set of mechanical drawings that could again in theory describe how to build my time machine. Gentlemen the machine in my story is now one step beyond fiction, theory and imagination. I now own a set of mechanical drawings, that with the right materials, skills and abilities it could be built.”
As if some how to sort this out Holmes commented “Mr. Wells do you realize that if you were to reveal to any one on the high street what you have just shared with Dr. Watson and myself they would say that the venture is impossible and that you have temporarily taken leave of your senses.” Wells countered Holmes statement with “Mr. Holmes I have always believed that the only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible.”
I had rarely seen Holmes at a loss for words no matter how shocking the revelation, but with Wells unexpected news and unshakable conviction this was one of those times. Holmes quickly recovered from the impact with two short questions
“Mr. Wells to assure myself I must ask you” Holmes started “first that the machine could (Holmes emphasized the word could) be built but cannot be built at this time and second that the mechanical drawings you speak of are safely under lock and key at all times?”
With a silent nod of his head Wells indicated yes to both questions. “There we have it then” Holmes stated with a sigh of relief in his voice “I would suggest that you do not share this particular part of your work with anyone. Then changing direction Holmes asked “Is there anyone other than you, Watson and myself that have any knowledge of these drawings?”
“No, Mr. Holmes and with the present state of affairs with my ex-wife she has no knowledge of the drawings much less where they are kept.” To end any further discussion of Wells marital state Holmes finished the conversation with “Well then all of London can rest assured that nobody will be going forward in time to see what the city might look like in say one hundred years time.”
Chapter 10
I would not have made any mention about the state of Wells marriage in 1891 to Isabel Mary Wells his cousin at all, but as events were about to unfold it would later play an important part in the case During his marriage to Isabel, Wells had liaisons with a number of women, including the American birth control activist Margaret Sanger but left Isabel in 1894 for one of his students, Amy Catherine Robbins, whom he married late in 1895.
From information gathered later it was said that the first Mrs. Wells had been less than pleased with these circumstances when she found out about the extra martial affairs her husband was carrying on while he was still married to her. The eventual revenge the first Mrs. Wells had planned against her husband would have ramifications that she could never have thought possible. Holmes would quote towards the end of this case “Hell hath no fury, like a women scorned.”
Of course this wasn’t the first time Holmes and I encountered mechanical drawings or plans that could have great ramifications if they were to fall into the wrong hands.
There were the Bruce Partington plans. Holmes’s brother Mycroft had come to London about some missing, secret submarine plans. Seven of the ten pages - three are still missing - were found with Arthur Cadogan West’s body. He was a young clerk in a government office at Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, whose body was found next to the Underground tracks near Aldgate, his head crushed.
He had little money with him (although there appears to have been no robbery), theatre tickets, and curiously, no Underground ticket. The three missing pages by themselves could enable one of Britain’s enemies to build a Bruce-Partington submarine.
Some of the last words Wells spoke to us that afternoon just before the end of his visit would in their own way be prophetic. Wells had not realized at the time of course that his first wife had through knowledge passed from a household maid who on at least two occasions seen him Wells, without his knowing place the large bundle of rolled mechanical drawings of the time machine into a sturdy metal strong box and then lock it.
When the maid had asked about the nature of contents of the strong box Wells had given her a rather dismissive answer saying only that they had only something to do with a story he was writing. The first Mrs. Wells with this knowledge now had her curiosity mixed with a possible way to seek revenge for the embarrassment and shame she felt that her husband had brought onto her.
When the tea pot was empty Wells rose from where he had been seated and said “Well gentlemen I must take my leave. I have return home and prepare for an extensive lecture tour I am about to embark on.”
Holmes momentarily sensing some unknown danger asked “Where is your lecture to take place and how long will you be away from London Mr. Wells?” “The East Midlands Mr. Holmes my first stop will be Northampton, and then on to Leicester, Nottingham then my last stop is in Derby.” “Travelling by rail between engagements I should think no more than about a week; it seems my books popularity has preceded its author.”Wells cheerily replied as he stood up to retrieve his coat and hat.
Holmes, to ease his feeling of foreboding then asked “I assume that the only key to the strong box containing the mechanical drawings of your time machine will be in your possession at all times?’ Wells smiled as he pulled out his watch fob chain; there on the end of the chain was the only key that Wells assuredly knew about.
Chapter 11
At this time I must shift the readers focus away from 221B Baker Street to 12 Fitzroy Road, Primrose Hill (also in London) being the residence of H.G. Wells and his former first wife Isabel Mary Wells.
The atmosphere during the last part of the marriage in the house time could be described as frosty each being cordial with each other but you could tell that there was a chasm between the two that would never be bridged again. Whenever Wells returned to his residence he must have thought “A man always finds it hard to realize that he may have finally lost a woman’s love, however badly he may have treated her.”
When the same maid, via a messenger alerted the former Mrs. Wells of her ex husbands speaking tour she knew it was time to put her plan into action. When Isabel Mary Wells arrived the next day at 12 Fitzroy Road, Primrose Hill (also in London) again being the residence of H.G. Wells she asked the maid in person where the strong box was located and how long would her ex husband be away for.
Having some time ago made a wax impression of the key, and now being in possession of a duplicate key for the lock on the strong box she had ready access to the contents inside.
Knowing that Wells was now safely away from the city, her first act was to open up the strong box and see if the contents might have some immediate monetary value. Unlocking and opening up the strong box she took the large heavy roll out of the box and placed it on her ex husband’s desk she unrolled it from right to left to see the title page of the large thick document read
“A Theoretical Machine to Travel Back and Forward Through Time”. Below the title read “These mechanical drawings have been commissioned under the direction of Mr. Herbert George Wells and have been drawn by James B. Francis Chief Engineer for the Proprietors of Locks and Kirk Boott agent of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company 1894”
As she stood looking at page after page of meticulous mechanical drawings each outlining how the individual parts of the time machine along with its various controls were to be manufactured, how all of it was to be assembled al
lowing the operator to go anywhere they wanted in time the first Mrs. Wells was in momentary awe of her ex husband’s creativity.
But knowing that she had only a short time until her husband’s return she would have to find a way to make copy of the mechanical drawings for her own use then return the originals to the strong box. Through her husband’s publisher she located the firm of Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers which was located at 15 Holllybush Lane Penn Wolverhampton, London.
With a note that appeared to had been written and signed by her husband stating that he (Wells) required the firm to reproduce a second set of mechanical drawings of the time machine and the original drawings now momentarily in her procession the first Mrs. Wells put her plan into action.
Chapter 12
It is one thing to own (no matter by what means it was obtained) something that might be unique and possibly valuable it is another thing to find a ready market or a buyer to sell it to. This was the short term problem the first Mrs. Well faced when she returned to Bolliger & Mabillard to pick up the original mechanical drawings plus the copy.
The exact details as to how the first Mrs. Wells solved this problem may never be known but the solution to her sale of and how Montague John Druitt became involved in the purchase of the mechanical drawings came together in a place or a district named The Rookery.
The worst sink of iniquity was The Rookery, a place or rather district, so named, whose shape was triangular, bounded by Bainbridge Street, George Street and High Street, St Giles. The colony, called The Rookery, was like a honeycomb, perforated by a number of courts and blind alleys, cul de sac, without any outlet other than the entrance. Here was the lowest lodging houses in London, inhabited by the various classes of thieves common to large cities were banded together.
It was thought that the name of the district may have come from the slang expression to rook that is to cheat or steal, a verb well established in the 16th century and associated with the supposedly thieving nature of the rook bird.
Montague John Druitt’s residence and where he conducted his criminal activities from was located at upstairs lodging rooms in the Old Mint, along the Ratcliffe Highway and Petticoat Lane in the Rookery.
It was here that the copy of the mechanical drawings of H.G. Well’s time machine was exchanged for a large sum of money. Thinking that she had damaged her husband’s reputation and had received a fair financial compensation for the shame she had to endure as a result of her husband’s affair Isabel Mary Wells left Druitt’s residence thinking nothing more about the transaction.
They say that sometimes the right elements can come together at the right time and produce great good or great evil. In the case of Druitt’s purchase the latter would prove to be true and would test my friend’s criminal deduction talents to their limit.
With his long sought after prize in hand Montague John Druitt was to take leave of his residence in the Rookery and the City of London shortly for trip abroad to the continent. While booking passage on the Cherbourg, a Cunard Steamship Company vessel that would take him across the English Channel to France he also booked railway passage to two cities in Europe.
His first stop would be Baden Muehlburg, Germany to meet with Gotlieb Daimler and Karl Friedrich Benz who together at their machine works would manufacture the frame and the mechanical workings of the time machine, then onto Smiljan Lika, Croatia to meet with Nikola Tesla who at his laboratory would create the necessary intricate electrical dials and controls that would allow the time machines operator to go forwards and backwards in time.
After agreeing as to payment for services tendered from the three inventors, the completed components from Daimler, Benz and Tesla were to be disassembled then packed into large wooden shipping crates that would be transported from the continent to an address located at the junction of Garrett Lane and Summers town Road in Camden town London. Of course at the time we were not in possession of this information but would learn of Druitt’s itinerary later.
Chapter 13
I bring the reader’s attention back again to 221 B Baker Street and a conversation Holmes and I had concerning an art forgery “Due to the obvious quality of the painting” Holmes had said “the Metropolitan Police and myself agree we lack the necessary artistic skills to discern if it is a forgery or not. To this end it is to being taken to the Belgravia Gallery tomorrow morning where their experts in forgery will decide if it is or isn’t.”
And it was only a short time after Wells had returned from his lecture tour in the East Midlands that Holmes and I would be making the first of several visits to the Belgravia Gallery located at 45 Albemarle Street, Mayfair London in connection to forged paintings.
Holmes had of course known of the Gallery through its reputation of over 30 years of European trained expertise to all paintings that are in need of cleaning, repair, conservation, or major restoration. Their philosophy was to alter the artwork as little as possible with respect to the original intention of the artist. To that end, they examined each work of art closely and tailored their methodologies to its’ precise needs.
Paintings were very rarely lined; rather were re-woven or in some cases inlay canvas and use a bridge technique to affix it to the original canvas. They used only the finest materials and techniques, which are found in major museums around the world. In accordance with their belief that restoration should be noninvasive, all of the work they did is fully reversible.
The Belgravia Gallery worked with and is especially proud of its ongoing relationship with national museums, universities, art galleries, art dealers, and private clients.
As we were getting out of the hansom cab in front in front of the gallery I was impressed by its architectural design. The building was covered in polished gray marble stone on the left was a large display window trimmed in brass displaying some contemporary paintings, in the middle was the entrance and to the right was a display window of the same size as the one on the left it too was trimmed in brass and was also displaying contemporary paintings
As Holmes and I made our way through the brass trimmed entrance of the gallery I asked “What is the name of the painting we have come to examine?” “The Long Engagement by Arthur Hughes and I believe it was painted in 1859” was his answer. Once inside the foyer just as the gallery manager was approaching us Holmes finished his description with “and it was on loan from the Birmingham Art Gallery when this incident took place.” Mr. Holmes, Dr. Watson I presume” queried the distinguished looking gallery manager as he extended his right hand in Holmes direction. “Yes” was Holmes reply to the query…”My name is Charles Henry Stephenson and I am the managing director of the Belgravia Gallery” “and you have obviously come about the Hughes painting.”
If you would both come with me to the restoration work shop area I think what we may have accidently uncovered something that might be of some interest to you both.” As Holmes and I walked through the gallery I was impressed by the decor of the gallery and its range and scope of paintings that were mounted on the walls waiting to be viewed by and bought by potential collectors.
Passing through a set of plain wooden double hinged doors that divided the gallery from upper class to working class we first noticed the mixed smells of oil paint and turpentine. Holmes and I now saw a scene all around us of various sizes of paintings some on easels covered with a cloth to protect them while they dried, some being worked on by what I took to be expert craftsmen in their trade. Other uncovered paintings of various sizes were leaning with their backs against the walls of the large work space each waiting their turn for repair or restoration.
There was one covered painting that had been set aside from the others which I took to be that painting we had come to see. “Excuse me Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson while I get the young man who started working on the Hughes and I can have him better explain to you what he has discovered” the director said as he went further into
the restoration area seeking one particular person.
He returned shortly with a young man of medium build, probably in his mid twenties who looked like and dressed some what that he might have been an old master himself in another life time. “Mr. Holmes Dr. Watson this is Jeffery Daniels one of our art restorers.” Before the introductions could be properly completed and the painting properly reveled Holmes started.
“Mr. Daniels before you begin, I must ask have you started or completed any restoration work on any other paintings by Arthur Hughes.” “Why would you ask that?” I queried “To be certain that Mr. Daniels is familiar with the style the artist employs, his choice of oil colors, the manufacturer of the paint the artist prefers, his particular brush strokes and even Hughes choice of canvas “ Holmes replied knowledgeably.
Chapter 14
Jeffery Daniels taking this line of questioning in stride proceeded to display his knowledge of the painter by stating that Hughes was a pre-Raphaelite painter and book illustrator then went on to list Orlando, Home From the Sea and April Love among the particular artists paintings he had worked on.
With that the young art restorer lifted the cloth covering the “The Long Engagement” the true nature of the painting sitting on the wooden easel was about to be revealed. For the reader not familiar with this particular work of Arthur Hughes I will briefly describe the painting that was resting on the easel before us.
It was a work of modest size and painted in the portrait style, to the left of the viewer there was the large trunk of poplar tree in a meadow setting, leaning against the tree was a red headed young man dressed in what is called the country style.
Sherlock Holmes and the Discarded Cigarette Page 3
