come in, come in, sherlock -- dr. watson.  sit down. you're looking very fit, both of you.
under control. except for the occasional twinge.
i have a treat for you -- a very old madeira -- 1814. there are only six bottles left in the world. i have two of them, and am negotiating for a third.
the last doctor who warned me about that was crossing piccadilly, slipped on an orange peel, and was run over by a delivery van from the fortnum and mason. your very good health.
well, i see you so rarely. how long has it been? not since the case of the greek interpreter. isn't it ridiculous? two brothers living in the same town.
1814. one year before waterloo.
you do know where waterloo is, don't you, doctor?
quite. and speaking of belgium, it has come to my attention that you are interested in the whereabouts of a certain engineer.
well, i can save you a lot of trouble.
my suggestion is that you pursue it no further.
because it involves the national security. we are handling this matter ourselves.
i didn't say that.
that's neither here nor there.
what a fertile imagination my brother has. at the age of five, by carefully observing a neighbor's house, he deduced that babies were brought not by the stork, but by the mid-wife in her satchel.
yes, wiggins?
tell them that the three boxes go to glennahurich, and the red runner goes to the castle.
my dear sherlock, there are certain affairs that do not come within the province of the private detective. they have to be dealt with on an altogether different level.
i do indeed.
sherlock, when i said drop this case, it was not merely a suggestion -- it was an order!
by the authority of her majesty's government. i hope i've made myself clear.
now if you'll excuse me, gentlemen --
just a minute. you forgot your tool-kit.
mr. ashdown, i presume.
it's not for you. mckeller. may i have the champagne, please?
mediocre. but then again, it's not for drinking.
tie it up, will you?
in here.
despite my most emphatic warning, you persisted in meddling. it would have served you right if you'd all drowned.
i imagine this belongs to the pretty lady, and this belongs to your valet.  we found them floating in the lake.
how much do you know -- or think you know?
not quite that unique. right now, four countries are trying to develop what we call a submersible. but none of them could solve the critical problem -- how to stay submerged long enough to make it effective.
that was our goal. and thanks to valladon's air-pump, we got a jump on the rest of them. it's a highly complex system of filtration -- so we had a series of trials --
during a test run in moray firth, pressure caused a leak in the hull. sea water mixed with the acid in the batteries to produce chlorine gas. before they could reach the surface, valladon and the crew were dead.
it was essential to keep the information from your client.
your client isn't madame valladon -- it's the imperial german government. they were after the belgian engineer -- or rather, his invention. they knew he was employed by us, but they couldn't find out where -- so they enlisted the best brain in england to help them. you, my dear brother, have been working for the wilhelmstrasse.
madame valladon is dead.
the germans disposed of her three weeks ago, in brussels. this is gabrielle valladon.
the woman who was brought to your house in the middle of the night -- apparently fished out of the thames -- and apparently suffering from amnesia -- is, in fact, ilse von hoffmanstal, one of their most skillful agents. am i going too fast for one of the "best brains in england?"
they planted her on you quite neatly, i must admit, so that you could lead them to their objective, the air pump. very much like using a hog to find truffles. and now perhaps you'd care to join me. i am expecting a certain royal personage from balmoral.
your majesty.
i trust you had a pleasant journey, ma'am.
i can assure you, ma'am, it will be.
we call it a submersible, ma'am. it travels under water.
ma'am, may present some of the scientists who were responsible for this achievement. j.w. ferguson, naval architect --
professor simpson, our leading expert on hydraulics --
w.w. prescott, co-inventor of the revolving periscope --
and this is sir arthur grisby, our authority on maritime ballistics --
well, not exactly, ma'am --
this is my brother, sherlock, ma'am.
in the dungeon, ma'am.
there she, ma'am. her majesty's ship jonah.
it's merely a decoy, ma'am.
something of the sort.  the crew will now demonstrate the workings of the submersible.
they are. but because of the size of the craft, the navy made an exception.
this is the main engine, which propels it under water at the rate of two knots -- the stabilizing mechanism -- the multi- stage compressor -- the ballast tank trimmer -- the air-pump which filters and recirculates the air --
the air pump, ma'am?
yes, ma'am. these are the levers for firing the torpedoes, which are accurate up to as much as 120 feet -- the periscope for scanning the surface of the water --
the what, ma'am?
that's not quite the idea, ma'am. h.m.s. jonah is being commissioned as a warship.
ma'am, if i may explain --
the admiralty regards this craft as the ultimate weapon in naval warfare. it can seek out enemy ships and destroy them -- with these torpedoes -- while remaining completely invisible.
yes, ma'am.
that is correct, ma'am.
indeed, ma'am.
i beg your pardon, ma'am?
that's precisely it, ma'am. at this very moment the germans under count von zeppelin, are experimenting with a dirigible --
a rigid balloon, which could fly over london and drop a bomb on buckingham palace. it is being developed at the express orders of kaiser wilhelm the second.
we have conclusive proof, ma'am. our agent in friedrichshafen, a man named ibbetson, actually saw the dirigible, and made a drawing of it. unfortunately, he was apprehended before he could cross the border.
may i point out, ma'am --
not necessarily. if the germans want that submersible so badly, why don't we give it to them?
invite them aboard for the final journey -- seven hundred feet -- straight down.
i'm rather counting on you to do it. since you are on such intimate terms with fraulein von hoffmanstal.
shall we say goodbye to her majesty?
fraulein von hoffmanstal?
if there's one thing i like about the prussians, it's their punctuality.
they are. but you're not going to jail. you're going back to germany.
you will be conducted to the swiss-german border, and be exchanged for one of our agents -- a man named ibbetson.
don't thank me. thank my brother. it was his idea.
frankly, i think we are making a very poor deal. you much better than most operatives working for british intelligence. don't you agree, sherlock?
shall we?