Baker Street Charterers

Sherlock Holmes rose to fame in the London detective world after deciphering the "Study in Scarlet" case, "The Spotted Tape" and "The Sign of Four".

Every day, many people from different walks of life seek help from him. Cases of varying difficulty from "looking for the lost kitten" to "my sister was murdered in the secret room" did not confuse him too much. In just three days, Holmes deciphered the difficult cases that the police department was helpless, which made him more and more famous.

But at the same time, fame does not give him too much sense of accomplishment, and he can't find a satisfactory case. Holmes's life is mostly immersed in strange research, smoking, reading strange books and trying to inject under Nora's interference. In the days of cocaine solution, until Watson moved out, it didn't take long for everyone at 221b Baker Street to receive his wedding invitation from Miss Mary Morstan.

Nora was very sad holding this plain and low-key invitation, "I can't wear a new black dress to the wedding. It seems that I have to spend a lot of money to go to Apollinai Tailors again."

Since getting married with Amanda, the proprietress, who has always been domineering in terms of fashion, no longer allows Nora to go to other stores to buy dresses. The original words are "this is a complete insult to my craftsmanship and taste."

"New clothes?" Holmes snorted at this. "I do remember that it was last year's dress."

"That's the clothes I bought recently." Nora emphasized, then rolled her eyes around him and snorted coldly, "I remember you haven't worn new clothes for a long time, Xiali."

Holmes lay comfortably on the sofa, puffing and puffing, "Well-fitting and beautiful clothes can't increase people's intellect, and if you have the energy to buy clothes, it's better to study my latest article "Special Topics on Lassus's Harmony Hymn". "

"I'd rather go shopping for clothes." Nora sneered, and then asked again, "Are you really not going with me, Watson's wedding will be the day after tomorrow, and he and his new wife must not want to see it This picture of you... Well, you appeared at the wedding with your family appearance."

Holmes narrowed his eyes and said nothing.

"Or, if you are really not interested, I can help." Nora said enthusiastically.

"Help?" Holmes drew out.

"There are at least two corpses that need my identification and treatment every day. You don't need to doubt my eyesight at all. I can tell the size of the body at a glance."

Holmes coughed, waved the smoke in front of his eyes, and finally came to his senses under the stimulation of these words. He looked at Nora who raised his eyebrows with a bored and helpless expression for a while, and sighed, "It's nothing to do, I accept you proposal."

"The shirt, woolen coat, bow tie, boots, and top hat should all be updated." Nora said critically, she was still very cautious about her friend's wedding.

Holmes straightened his collar, pretended not to hear anything, and calmly went downstairs.

They went to the Apollinai clothing store as usual.

Shopping with Sherlock Holmes is a very novel experience. Since coming to Regent Street, Nora, who rarely shows the crazy side of women to beautiful things, pointed to a graceful figure not far away, wearing a red corset. , a lady with a padded dress made of wire at the sleeves, and a wide-brimmed high hat decorated with intricate lace and artificial flowers, "Look, that's the latest trendy clothes, what do you think?"

Holmes looked at it for a few seconds, and immediately commented, "She should not be rich. She only has this tall hat that can be bought. The back brim of the hat has collapsed. Even careful maintenance cannot conceal the fact that it has been overused. It is thick black. Eyeshadow, low-quality bright red lips, the breast line is three centimeters lower than ordinary women, the dress is deliberately but without long nails, it is very round and neat, and it should be often used in work. The skirt is at the knees More wrinkled than other places, she often does prone movements. Combined with the strong and pungent cheap perfume on her body, I judge that she is a prostitute."

"..." Nora held her forehead.

"Do you think such a lady's clothes are beautiful?" Holmes sneered.

"...I just ask you to comment on her clothes very purely, not to speculate on her occupation." Nora was extremely helpless, "Sherlock, I know you have some unfair ideas about women, and you may despise them very much in your heart Prostitutes, but if it’s not for livelihood, I don’t think many women would be willing to use their bodies to serve men.”

In order to strengthen the correctness of what she said, she gave an example, "There are still many talented women, such as Jane Austen, such as Miss Amanda Annwood, such as... me."

Holmes immediately caught the loophole in the sentence, "A talented woman...you?"

Nora immediately turned black, "Which part do you want to refute, talented, or female?"

Holmes looked straight ahead without moving his face, "We have arrived."

Although Apollinai is a well-known tailor-made dress shop in London, it also sells finished men's clothing.When Nora opened the door, the landlady Amanda was drawing with her head down. When she heard a jingle, she raised her head and froze for a moment.

"Oh~" she let out a very thought-provoking whisper, "Someone tell me, the famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, actually came to the tailor shop to buy clothes?"

Then I noticed Nora who came in first, her eyes became more and more charming, "—with a cute little girl, female detective, Nora Sharp?"

"Good afternoon, Amanda." Nora said with a meaningful smile on the other side, directly explaining her intentions, "Sherlock needs a suitable men's suit, as for me... ahem, I'm going to a wedding, and I also need a beautiful suit. dress."

"Are you finally going to marry Sherlock?" Amanda covered her lips in surprise.

"..." Nora remained expressionless, "Sherlock, let's go, I think we need a more professional tailor."

"Come back." Amanda snorted despondently, "You bastard, I have already received Watson's invitation, and the clothes are all ready for you."

"Oh?" Nora's face was full of surprise, and then she thought of something, her eyes became cautious, "...is it the most popular style nowadays?"

Amanda gave her a sideways look, "You want to ask if it's expensive, right?"

Nora touched her nose, "We are indeed good friends who share the same taste."

Amanda sneered, "I don't think your dry-cooked figure can wear the taste of ladies' favorite skirts nowadays. Don't worry, Amanda's products are definitely the most suitable for you."

Nora smiled and nodded, "Of course, of course, the number one seamstress in London." After flattering, she pointed and looked up carefully at the imitation of Giorgione's famous painting "Sleeping Venus" hanging on the wall. "Holmes," whispered, "And his clothes?"

Amanda looked Holmes up and down critically, "Sherlock's style, wearing pajamas and slippers can probably go to a wealthy party."

It fully expresses disdain and contempt for people who dress casually.

"Then even Watson will probably drive him out mercilessly." Nora teased with interest, "I think you can arrange everything else you want except his new black top hat, which is necessary for him."

Amanda put her delicate little feather fan to her lips and giggled, "You really know Sherlock Holmes."

"If I were you, I would choose to throw this painting out immediately, and then sever the relationship with your current fiancé." Holmes suddenly said, but what he said was confusing.

Amanda paused, her smiling eyes immediately became extremely sharp, and she said slowly, "...What do you mean?"

"Although Miss Annwood's life is not poor, she is not considered rich either. Obviously, she cannot afford this painting, which is expensive even if it is a simulation. Although the color of this painting looks old and ancient Huang, but the frame is newly ordered, and the layman probably does not know that although Giorgione is the owner of this painting, he has not completed it, except for this sleeping Venus, the painting Both the landscape and the sky in the painting were completed by Titian later, so the painting presents two different brushwork styles—and this painting, unlike the previous simulation paintings, perfectly inherits the style of the original painting, without any Fake fakes with flaws.”

Amanda stiffened, "I don't understand what you mean, Sherlock."

Holmes turned around slowly, his gaze was very calm, his cold gray eyes were habitually inspecting everything, and he said in an exceptionally quiet and descriptive tone, "Let me guess first, you recently The fiancé of my husband, an aspiring young painter from Manchester?"

Amanda seemed to have thought of something, her face slowly turned pale, but her eyes returned to clear and calm, and she said softly, "Yes, you guessed right."

"Sleeping Venus is in the collection of the Old Masters Museum in Dresden, Germany, and there was a recent open art exhibition there, focusing on this painting and Titian's Flora - Newspaper The news has been publicized on the Internet." Holmes slowed down. "As far as I know, when I was here last time, this painting was not hanging here. Don't you think the timing of its appearance is too coincidental? "

kindness?Nora pricked up her ears, when did Sherlock come here?

Amanda lowered her eyes and seemed to be thinking.

Holmes looked at his watch, "Without wasting time, let me just say it straight. Now the fiancé with whom you get along like glue is a very talented imitation painting painter. He is working with someone and is going to steal it." The real "Sleeping Venus" and the substitute is the one hanging in your store."

Nora was taken aback, but she didn't expect such a thing to happen. Seeing Amanda's pale and silent face, she couldn't help rebutting, "Xiali, this is pure speculation without any evidence."

"Here is the evidence." Holmes suddenly reached out, carefully removed the picture frame, then turned it over, pointing to the small number "4.m" in an unobtrusive corner behind the picture frame, "Look, this represents I will guess that it is the meaning of the first perfect copy of the original painting, and m is the representative area code of Manchester."

In other words, there are a total of 4 such similar simulation paintings, and the one hanging here is the most perfect finished product.

"Your fiancé is indeed a man of great talent," said Holmes regretfully, "and he appears to be very fond of you."

Everyone expresses their love to their lover in different ways, and a talented artist chooses to present his most perfect and unsurpassable works to his lover.

"I think your fiancé's collaborator is furious about the missing 'replacement' right now, and is looking for his footprints all over the world." Holmes said seriously, "Thieves who want to steal famous paintings often have forces that cannot be underestimated. Someone will find out about your relationship with him. I want you to take my advice—close this shop and move out of the city."

Nora was dumbfounded.