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protruding and his head moving from side to side, the nervous tic inherited—like his older brother’s—from father or mother, or even farther back in his lineage; it was an odd reptilian movement of the head, side to side, slowly to and fro. What we do presume from medical opinion is that the tic exhibited itself in moments of pressure or stress, and in view of the instructions Moriarty was about to give to his henchman, some stress would certainly be present. “Your colleaguesin what I like to call my Praetorian Guard return to London this very night, Tom.”
    Terremant gave a small gasp. “So soon?”
    â€œYes, they’ve come by rail and sea, ending tonight in Southampton, aboard the SS
Canada
of the Dominion Line. At this moment they will be bound for London and, I am assured by the Dominion Line’s representative in Haymarket, they will be arriving in London at approximately half past the hour of eight tonight. You are to meet them in the saloon bar of The Sheet Anchor public house off the West India Dock Road, in Poplar, about half past nine.” He took up the bottle and poured a generous glass of brandy for Terremant, the amber liquid seeming to glow as if giving off a pulse of light. “There, that will keep the cold at bay. Now, I have particular instructions which I’ve written for Albert Spear.” He strode with purpose to his desk and picked up four or five pages of a heavy white rag paper filled with the Professor’s neat copperplate handwriting, which he scanned closely before folding it neatly, running his fingers and thumb over the creases to make the folds sharp, then sealing the pages in an envelope of matching paper.
    â€œDrink,” he called to Terremant, and the big man took another sip of the brandy as Moriarty lit a small candle on his desk and went through the business of heating and dropping scarlet sealing wax onto the flap of the envelope, then completing the matter by pressing his signet ring into the wax, leaving a clean impression of his personal seal—a flowery letter
M
topped by a coronet and a dagger running through the
V
of the
M
.
    â€œThere,” he said, walking over to Terremant, offering him the envelope addressed to Albert Spear with the words
By Hand
written in the top right-hand corner. “You are to put this into Albert’s hand and none other. He must read and act on the contents, which he willdoubtless share with you. But he must act on the contents immediately. Understand? Immediately!” The word cracking like a whip.
    Terremant finished off the brandy, took the envelope, and tucked it away in the inside pocket of his jacket. “I’ll do it all, Professor. Never fear. The Sheet Anchor off the West India Dock Road. I used to know it well. Half nine.”
    â€œIt’s been under my protection for some years now, The Sheet Anchor. Poplar, you’ll recall, is hard by Limehouse, where we once had our headquarters.” Moriarty smiled his grim grimace and nodded a curt dismissal. “Mind you’re not watched or followed, Tom Terremant. But go now and go well …Oh, and Tom?”
    â€œYes, Professor,” he said, just on the wrong side of surly.
    â€œDon’t let your tongue start wagging. Keep a curb on it. Not a word about what I’ve been doing. Not yet. Understand? What I’ve been up to here, and before, in Vienna. It’s my business and it’s for the sake of our family. You must be aware of that. See?”
    â€œOf course, sir.”
    â€œWell mind it.”
    â€œShall I bring the lads back here, guv’nor?”
    â€œNot tonight. I’ve got them rooms at Captain Ratford’s place off Leicester Square. They already know that and I’ve got a pair of lurkers watching for their arrival.” * He ran his thumb down his right cheek, nail against the flesh, tracing a line from just under the eye to the jawline. In fact the Professor had no such