The Adventure of the Editor's Locked Drawer

Three chapters of an unpublished romance, locked in a drawer at six o'clock; gone by half past eight. The key never left the publisher's watch-chain.

“Mr. Jabez Wilson at Baker Street”
Sidney Paget · The Strand Magazine, August 1891 · Public Domain

Section I

The Scene

Setting: Pelham & Roe, Publishers - a four-storey building in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden
Time: Wednesday morning, late November 1894
Weather: Cold, bright, the gutters running with the night's rain
Atmosphere: A respectable trade publisher, all dark wood and Morris paper, the smell of fresh ink from the press in the basement.

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