Sherlock, if I could retrieve my letter to Lord D_, I would. I should have suspected that you had ulterior motives from the ease with which you acquiesced. How cunning you must think yourself. Telling you of Sir John's honor was as a Toreador waving his cape before a bull. You desire him only because you believe him to be unattainable. I urge you now to LEAVE HIM BE. I will not appeal to your decency for I sometimes despair that you have any. I appeal then to your vanity. I believe that Sir John is too good a man to be trifled with and will thwart you at every turn. And if, by some caprice of fortune, he should be swayed by you, what will you gain? Your rivals are a ghost and God. Do not flatter yourself that you will supplant them. If you overcome his love of God, he will still be in fear of the Devil and get no joy nor give you any pleasure that is not tinged with remorse.
And how little glory even if you succeed. London will not thank you for tarnishing its favorite son. You will wear the humiliation of defeat in public, or suffer success in silence. What is your triumph if you cannot boast of it?
No, go to Hertfordshire with the purpose of seducing the simple traitor, Lord D_. Bring him to bed and gain some proof that we can hold above him. You won't be able to humiliate him publicly, but you will have the pleasure of knowing that you have placed him in a position of abject obedience.
Don't make me order you.
Your always loving brother,
Mycroft
Whitehall, 9th April, 17**
