Context: Holmes and Watson just caught an express train to run to the Continent. They narrowly missed Moriarity.“As this is an express, and as the boat runs in connection with it, I should think we have shaken him off very effectively.”
“My dear Watson, you evidently did not realize my meaning when I said that this man may be taken as being quite on the same intellectual plane as myself. [...]”
“What will he do?” [...]
“Engage a special.”
What's a special? I have an inkling this might be a vehicle of a sort, but not sure what.
Source: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle