The Bruce-Partington Plans: Mirror, Mirror

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Title: The Bruce-Partington Plans: Mirror, Mirror
Author: gardnerhill                        
Word Count: 60                     
Rating: G
Warning: None
Summary: Mycroft ponders families and the nature of opposition.

***

For a little money and power he murdered a decent man, betrayed his country, besmirched his family name, and broke his elder brother’s heart.

Water quenches fire. Base solution neutralises acid. Light ends darkness.

For a little mental exercise and patriotism he tracked down a wicked man, served his country, glorified his family name, and made his elder brother proud.

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Excellent comparison.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Poor Sir James was not as fortunate in his younger brother as was Mycroft Holmes.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Excellent parallel to draw!

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Possibly a happy coincidence that the only other Canon story featuring Mycroft Holmes also involves a treacherous brother.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Very elegantly structured - feels almost like a poem.

And it is a neat parallel - I do always feel that living with the knowledge he'd been indirectly responsible for his brother's death must have been the hardest thing of all for Colonel Valentine Walter to live with.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

The law of unintended consequences - one little thing can lead to a string of tragedies.

When I did my Canon limericks, I focused on the two sets of brothers, so that poetic structure must have reappeared in this offering.

[debriswoman]

Very well put:-)

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Must have been coincidence that the second and only other appearance of Holmes' big brother is in a case involving brothers.

[alafaye]

Very interesting. I like it.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'd dealt with the two sets of brothers in my prior set of limericks, so the theme was an easy one to build into a 60.

[mafief.livejournal.com]

I’ll echo what has already been said and say that I really like this one and your use of parallelism is great. What was the title of your limerick 60? I am trying to find the BRUC one.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

It was under "Limerick" in "Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Corner" from Nov. 15, 2015:

Limerick
Big brother needs help once again:
Lost papers, a death from a train.
A trap set for spies
Instead yields a surprise –
Little brother, the cause of this pain.