Mrs Eglantine turned back, and the expression on her face could have curdled milk and caused sheep to give birth prematurely. Her lips twisted as she attempted to force back something she was going to say. ‘Of course,’ she said finally, through gritted teeth. ‘I will send someone up for the basket. Perhaps you would be so good as to leave it here and repair to the reception room.’

She seemed to melt back into the shadows.

‘You should watch that woman,’ Amyus Crowe said quietly. ‘When she looks at you there is violence in her eyes.’

‘I don’t understand why my aunt and uncle tolerate her presence,’ Sherlock replied. ‘It’s not as if she’s a particularly good housekeeper. The other staff are so terrified by her that they can barely do their jobs properly. The scullery maids keep dropping dishes when she’s around, their hands shake so much.’

‘The subject would benefit from some further investigation,’ Crowe mused. ‘If, as you say, she’s not a particularly good housekeeper then there must be some other compellin’ reason why she’s kept on, despite her vinegary personality. Perhaps your aunt and uncle are indebted to her, or to her family, in some manner, and this is a way of repayin’ a debt. Or perhaps she’s privy to some fact that your family would rather keep secret, and is blackmailin’ herself into a cosy job.’

‘I think Mycroft knows,’ Sherlock said, remembering the letter his brother had sent him when he first arrived at Holmes Manor. ‘I think he warned me about her.’

‘Your brother knows a lot of things,’ Crowe said with a smile. ‘And the things he don’t know generally ain’t worth knowin’ anyway.’

‘You taught him once, didn’t you?’ Sherlock asked.

Crowe nodded.

‘Did you take him out fishing as well?’

A laugh burst through Crowe’s usually calm expression. ‘Only the once,’ he admitted, through chuckles. ‘Your brother an’ the great outdoors ain’t exactly on speakin’ terms. It’s the first time and the last time ah’ve seen a man try and catch a fish by chasin’ it into its natural environment.’