Free My Dearest Holmes by Rohase Piercy

columns will be grateful to you.
I give you one last opportunity. Have PS2,000 ready in used notes in a plain briefcase, and bring it with you to the clock at Waterloo Station at 6.00 p.m. on the 24th of January.
Wait there for fifteen minutes. I would strongly advise you to come alone.
    Q.B.

P.S. I trust that Lady Carstairs is in good health, and well able to cope with a little excitement?
    Lord Carstairs gave a groan as he heard the last sentence. 'It was that decided me,' he said. 'My wife is far from robust, and the shock of such a disclosure could kill her. There was nothing else for it, Mr Holmes. I contacted my son for the second time, and came to London. He, Maria and I are all agreed that there is nothing to be done but comply with the arrangements set out in the letter. I have the money ready. The 24th of January is the day after tomorrow, and I intend to be at Waterloo Station, alone, at 6.00 p.m. with the money ready to hand over.'
    Holmes drew on his cigarette, and sat silently for some time. At length he said, 'What was in these letters, Lord Carstairs, which Q.B. has in his possession?'
    'They are addressed to my late friend, Mr Charles Courtney, of whose sad and untimely death you may have read last year. He died of consumption, last August; he was two years younger than myself. He was the best friend a man ever had, and I would have trusted him with my life.'
    'Evidently you did trust him with your secret.'
    'My dear sir, he knew all about it from the first! He was my support and my adviser over the whole affair. He was also the best man at my wedding, which as you may gather, took place some ten years ago, and it was on this occasion that I wrote him the fatal letters.'
    'Can you remember exactly the compromising words?'
    'Almost exactly. The first was written some months before my wedding, when preparations were still at an early stage. I invited him to be best man, and made some light-hearted reference to the fact that I would have to give up my old easy ways and become a model of virtue as a married man; adding, on a serious note, that I would have to give up all hope of future contact with my son, which I saw to be a painful but necessary decision.'
    I see. And the second letter?'
    'The second letter was written a few days before the ceremony itself. It was mainly concerned with travel arrangements. Towards the end I made some reference to his own last letter to me, which had contained some sympathetic words of advice. I said something like: "Thank you for your kind words about my boy; as you say, he is in good hands, and my contributions will ensure a good education. For the rest, it must be as you say; mum's the word."
    Sherlock Holmes remained relaxed back in his chair, eyes half closed.
    I see,' he repeated. 'And in neither letter was your son's name or that of his mother mentioned?'
    'No. I am absolutely certain as to that, thank God!'
    'Very well. We may assume that Q.B. is working in the dark as to your son's identity. Now we come to the crux of the matter; how did these letters pass into his hands, and have you any clue as to who he is?'
    Lord Carstairs sighed. 'I have wracked my brains over the matter and come up with nothing conclusive. When Courtney died, all his personal effects would have gone into his sister's possession, she being his only surviving relative. He was a bachelor.'
    'Do you know this sister?'
    'Not well, but enough to believe that she would never stoop to blackmail. And what reason would she have? She is rich enough, since her brother's death; and I am certainly not aware of any grudge she may bear against me.'
    'Her name?'
    'Mrs Cecil Forrester.'
    'Ah, she has a husband.'
    'She has been a widow these three years. Her husband died in India.'
    'I see. And have there been subsequent suitors?'
    Lord Carstairs seemed somewhat embarrassed by the question.
    'Well...as to that,' said he, stroking his moustache with a look of indecisive amusement upon his face, 'there... appears to