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daughter called Amelia whom he took to Carlo’s restaurant for lunch?Or that I would visit his supposed address in Clapham?”
    “ Did you?”
    Holmes gave an irritated sigh. “Of course I did. One of the elementary rules of detective work is to check your sources of information to make sure that what you are being told is the truth. I had a very pleasant afternoon at the Portland Street branch of the City Bank, disguised as an old colonial. Not only did I manage to observe the real manager, but, as luck would have it, I also saw how the gang worked it so that they were able to get hold of the keys to the bank.”
    Lestrade sat up. “How’s that?”
    “Another set of performances was involved. One character pretends to be the rich client intent on opening a very large account. He’s ushered into the manager’s office. It is my experience that bank managers are very obsequious where wealthy men are concerned. The ‘client’ is there long enough to take stock of the chamber and the strongroom. Then there is a commotion in the lobby of the bank, and the manager is called for...”
    “Leaving our fellow behind in his office.”
    “Precisely. Long enough for him to take all the details he needs and maybe even make some wax impressions of keys left behind by the flustered manager. Left alone for a short time, any experienced cracksman could easily acquire all the necessaries to carry out a job.”
    “Very clever indeed.”
    “Yes, and that’s what leads me to my dilemma. What I cannot understand is how the brain who conceived that part of the plan allowed the other loopholes to exist. They were stupid weaknesses which could easily have been remedied. Of course, such elements also muddied the waters somewhat. So, as I say, it is as though I was being put through some test to see how clever I am.”
    “Well, if that is the case, you passed with flying colours.”
    “Not quite. Two of the accomplices escaped, and I have a rather nasty trophy.” He indicated his wound.
    “Sometimes, Mr Holmes, you appear to me to be more baffling than the crimes you investigate. It seems to me as a humble, practical, professional policeman, you have managed to scupper a very clever bank robbery where you, being used as a dupe, were supposed to do the job for the thieves. The rest is some weird concoction of your own making. I ask you seriously, Mr Holmes, who on earth would want to test you, as you call it, and give you a sort of exam to see how good a ’tec you are?”
    “That is what I would really like to know.”
    Professor James Moriarty stared at the carpet bag, a faint smile touching his lips.
    “I’m disappointed in Mr Sherlock Holmes,” he said softly. “I never thought he’d let us get our hands on this.”
    “He was bright enough to see through Brand’s performance,” observed Colonel Sebastian Moran.
    Moriarty gave a derisive chuckle. “So, he has the talents of a second-rate drama critic. No, no, my dear Moran, I expected so much more of Mr Holmes. I expected incandescence. Still, it has been an interesting exercise.”
    “Forgive me, Professor, but I cannot understand your interest in this man.”
    “Of course not,” he sneered. “You wouldn’t. It’s to do with the brain, Moran. There are individuals who, for one reason or another, are trapped in isolation in their lives. The poet, the pauper and the thinker — the genius, if you like. I am not being immodest when I think of myself as a genius — after all, I am someone who has a supreme talent to conceive and organise a vast criminal establishment. I have the special intellectual abilities for this most refined and specialised of callings. Thereis no one like me. But it is a lonely position — when there is no one equal to you. No one on the same intellectual plane.” Moriarty turned to face Moran. “That is no insult to you, my dear fellow. Insults are emotional barbs. What I am talking about here are cold facts. Imagine, then, when I perceived