Thus far, I do not have enough evidence to implicate a known agent, nor to even hazard a guess as to the object of the scheme.” “Whatever are you talking about?” Watson asked. “I fear a specter from my past is once again active. We never are without our history. We hope we can put it behind, but sometimes it rears once again to cause us remorse and desperate actions. I have an informal network of contacts on the continent, that still try to engage my response to some problem they feel inadequate to grip.” “But surely they know you have retired!” Watson interjected. “Yes, yes, I have made it abundantly clear that I am a sojourner of quiet times and simple recreations. I am firmly ensconced in my retirement. Yet the retired ‘firehouse horse’ perks up his ears at the sound of the far off fire alarm and his nostrils flair at the whiff of smoke. My Continental contacts only correspond with facts and possibilities that bewilder them concerning certain movements and intrigues that crop up. Much like my brother Mycroft, who has also retired, yet consulted occasionally, I am given situations that I can at times enlighten and suggest investigations.” “Who, pray tell, is this specter of whom you speak?” Watson enquired. “I perceive the hand of Moriarty.” I softly declared. “Holmes, I understood that you had determined the Professor had died at your hands at the falls!” “Ah, but I was thought to have perished also, however I had escaped. Perhaps the same fate was accorded the Professor.” “Are you sure, Holmes? What proof do you have that he did not perish?” “Nothing concrete as proof just yet, but the emanations from my sources have the stench of the hand of the Professor in the goings on they are dealing with.” “But, how can you obtain proof, what actions must you take, and what personal danger are you in my good fellow?” Watson sounded animated with the prospect of my nemesis being once again active. “None immediately I fear, to answer all three of your questions. I do not personally have the ability on the Continent to work quietly and unobtrusively as necessary for the uncovering of events and delegates. I would be out of my natural haunts and beyond my working capabilities to carry that off. “I cannot immediately come up with necessary actions, only a plan of probable procedures until I receive more particulars. It is frustrating to whiff the aroma of a building crime stage, yet know I do not know enough to proceed. Time can be a ravenous foe rather than a breathing space, yet I do not know which is the case in this instance. Have the detected events been uncovered too late, or do we have time to ascertain their scope and potential? “Confound it, I need more information, and I must proceed quite cautiously so as not to warn of my interest. If indeed this is an awakening of the Professor’s criminal net and aspirations, I must warily move forward. He would be more deadly and vicious than a wounded tiger.” “What are you going to do now; can I help in any way?” Watson re-queried me. “First, let us finish our tea, then I will compose correspondence to my Continental contacts and another to my brother. I will certainly keep you apprised of the situation and call upon you if necessary. But for now, have some more honey Watson, I have quite an abundance.” That afternoon, while Watson and I enjoying several pipefuls of some special exotic tobaccos I had acquired from my London tobacconist, I produced a series of possible investigations to further enlighten me of the growing situations. I composed a carefully worded inquiry and fact summation to my brother. His phenomenal ability to see behind facts to find patterns and results had kept him the center of the British government for many productive years. His retirement due to his failing health, removed him physically from his office, but his mind was infrequently called upon when nothing else was sufficient to resolve a thorny question of state. The was nothing I could further do immediately, so Watson and I posted the letters and spent the next several days enjoying sun and the ocean pools nearby, the local pubs, local market day and he endured a minor series of discourses on my bees. Over drinks at the pub, I began my first lecture. “Apis mellifera is a species of honey bee comprised of several subspecies or races. ‘Mellifera’ is from the Greek, and means honey-carrying (meli, honey and fero, carry) - hence ‘Apis mellifera’ is the honey-carrying bee. They survive winter as a colony, and the queen begins egg laying in mid to late winter, in preparation for spring. She is the only fertile female, and deposits all the eggs from which the other bees are produced. She may make several flights to mate with drones in a brief mating period. She may leave in later life with a swarm to establish a new colony. The queen deposits each egg in a cell prepared by the worker bees. The eggs hatch into a small larva fed by nurse bees. These are specialized worker bees who maintain the interior of the bee hive. The pupal stage begins after about a week when the larva is sealed up in its cell by the nurse bees. After another week, it will emerge an adult bee.