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-Project Gutenberg's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or

-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

-

-

-Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

-

-Author: Arthur Conan Doyle

-

-Posting Date: April 18, 2011 [EBook #1661]

-First Posted: November 29, 2002

-

-Language: English

-

-

-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES ***

-

-

-

-

-Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

-

-by

-

-SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

-

-

-

-   I. A Scandal in Bohemia

-  II. The Red-headed League

- III. A Case of Identity

-  IV. The Boscombe Valley Mystery

-   V. The Five Orange Pips

-  VI. The Man with the Twisted Lip

- VII. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

-VIII. The Adventure of the Speckled Band

-  IX. The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb

-   X. The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor

-  XI. The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet

- XII. The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

-

-

-

-

-ADVENTURE I. A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA

-

-I.

-

-To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard

-him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses

-and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt

-any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that

-one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but

-admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect

-reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a

-lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never

-spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They

-were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the

-veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner

-to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely

-adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which

-might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a

-sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power

-lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a

-nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and

-that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable

-memory.

-

-I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us

-away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the

-home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first

-finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to

-absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of

-society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in

-Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from

-week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the

-drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still,

-as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his

-immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in

-following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which

-had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time

-to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons

-to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up

-of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee,

-and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so

-delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland.

-Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely

-shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of

-my former friend and companion.

-

-One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was

-returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to

-civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I

-passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated

-in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the

-Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes

-again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers.

-His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw

-his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against

-the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head

-sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who

-knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their

-own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his

-drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new

-problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which

-had formerly been in part my own.

-

-His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I

-think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly

-eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars,

-and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he

-stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular

-introspective fashion.

-

-"Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have

-put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you."

-

-"Seven!" I answered.

-

-"Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more,

-I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not

-tell me that you intended to go into harness."

-

-"Then, how do you know?"

-

-"I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting

-yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and

-careless servant girl?"

-

-"My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly

-have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true

-that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful

-mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you

-deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has

-given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it

-out."

-

-He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands

-together.

-

-"It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the

-inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it,

-the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they

-have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round

-the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it.

-Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile

-weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting

-specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a

-gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black

-mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge

-on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted

-his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce

-him to be an active member of the medical profession."

-

-I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his

-process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I

-remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously

-simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each

-successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you

-explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good

-as yours."

-

-"Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing

-himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe.

-The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen

-the steps which lead up from the hall to this room."

-

-"Frequently."

-

-"How often?"

-

-"Well, some hundreds of times."

-

-"Then how many are there?"

-

-"How many? I don't know."

-

-"Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is

-just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps,

-because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are

-interested in these little problems, and since you are good

-enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you

-may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick,

-pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table.

-"It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud."

-

-The note was undated, and without either signature or address.

-

-"There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight

-o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a

-matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of

-the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may

-safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which

-can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all

-quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do

-not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask."

-

-"This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that

-it means?"

-

-"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before

-one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit

-theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself.

-What do you deduce from it?"

-

-I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was

-written.

-

-"The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked,

-endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper

-could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly

-strong and stiff."

-

-"Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an

-English paper at all. Hold it up to the light."

-

-I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a

-large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper.

-

-"What do you make of that?" asked Holmes.

-

-"The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather."

-

-"Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for

-'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a

-customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for

-'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental

-Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves.

-"Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking

-country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being

-the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous

-glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you

-make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue

-triumphant cloud from his cigarette.

-

-"The paper was made in Bohemia," I said.

-

-"Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you

-note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of

-you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian

-could not have written that. It is the German who is so

-uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover

-what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and

-prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if

-I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts."

-

-As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and

-grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the

-bell. Holmes whistled.

-

-"A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing

-out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of

-beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in

-this case, Watson, if there is nothing else."

-

-"I think that I had better go, Holmes."

-

-"Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my

-Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity

-to miss it."

-

-"But your client--"

-

-"Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he

-comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best

-attention."

-

-A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and

-in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there

-was a loud and authoritative tap.

-

-"Come in!" said Holmes.

-

-A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six

-inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His

-dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked

-upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed

-across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while

-the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined

-with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch

-which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended

-halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with

-rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence

-which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a

-broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper

-part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black

-vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment,

-for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower

-part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character,

-with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive

-of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy.

-

-"You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a

-strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He

-looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to

-address.

-

-"Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and

-colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me

-in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?"

-

-"You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman.

-I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour

-and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most

-extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate

-with you alone."

-

-I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me

-back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say

-before this gentleman anything which you may say to me."

-

-The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said

-he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at

-the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At

-present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it

-may have an influence upon European history."

-

-"I promise," said Holmes.

-

-"And I."

-

-"You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The

-august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to

-you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have

-just called myself is not exactly my own."

-

-"I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly.

-

-"The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution

-has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense

-scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of

-Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House

-of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia."

-

-"I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself

-down in his armchair and closing his eyes.

-

-Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid,

-lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him

-as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe.

-Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his

-gigantic client.

-

-"If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he

-remarked, "I should be better able to advise you."

-

-The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in

-uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he

-tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You

-are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to

-conceal it?"

-

-"Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken

-before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich

-Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and

-hereditary King of Bohemia."

-

-"But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down

-once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you

-can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in

-my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not

-confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I

-have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting

-you."

-

-"Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more.

-

-"The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a

-lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known

-adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you."

-

-"Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without

-opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of

-docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it

-was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not

-at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography

-sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a

-staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea

-fishes.

-

-"Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year

-1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera

-of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in

-London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled

-with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and

-is now desirous of getting those letters back."

-

-"Precisely so. But how--"

-

-"Was there a secret marriage?"

-

-"None."

-

-"No legal papers or certificates?"

-

-"None."

-

-"Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should

-produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is

-she to prove their authenticity?"

-

-"There is the writing."

-

-"Pooh, pooh! Forgery."

-

-"My private note-paper."

-

-"Stolen."

-

-"My own seal."

-

-"Imitated."

-

-"My photograph."

-

-"Bought."

-

-"We were both in the photograph."

-

-"Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an

-indiscretion."

-

-"I was mad--insane."

-

-"You have compromised yourself seriously."

-

-"I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now."

-

-"It must be recovered."

-

-"We have tried and failed."

-

-"Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought."

-

-"She will not sell."

-

-"Stolen, then."

-

-"Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked

-her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice

-she has been waylaid. There has been no result."

-

-"No sign of it?"

-

-"Absolutely none."

-

-Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he.

-

-"But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully.

-

-"Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the

-photograph?"

-

-"To ruin me."

-

-"But how?"

-

-"I am about to be married."

-

-"So I have heard."

-

-"To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the

-King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her

-family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a

-doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end."

-

-"And Irene Adler?"

-

-"Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I

-know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul

-of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and

-the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry

-another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not

-go--none."

-

-"You are sure that she has not sent it yet?"

-

-"I am sure."

-

-"And why?"

-

-"Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the

-betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday."

-

-"Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That

-is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to

-look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in

-London for the present?"

-

-"Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the

-Count Von Kramm."

-

-"Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress."

-

-"Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety."

-

-"Then, as to money?"

-

-"You have carte blanche."

-

-"Absolutely?"

-

-"I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom

-to have that photograph."

-

-"And for present expenses?"

-

-The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak

-and laid it on the table.

-

-"There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in

-notes," he said.

-

-Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and

-handed it to him.

-

-"And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked.

-

-"Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood."

-

-Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the

-photograph a cabinet?"

-

-"It was."

-

-"Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon

-have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added,

-as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If

-you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three

-o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you."

-

-

-II.

-

-At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had

-not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the

-house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down

-beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him,

-however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his

-inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and

-strange features which were associated with the two crimes which

-I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the

-exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own.

-Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my

-friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of

-a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a

-pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the

-quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most

-inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable

-success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to

-enter into my head.

-

-It was close upon four before the door opened, and a

-drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an

-inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room.

-Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of

-disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it

-was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he

-emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old.

-Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in

-front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes.

-

-"Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again

-until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the

-chair.

-

-"What is it?"

-

-"It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I

-employed my morning, or what I ended by doing."

-

-"I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the

-habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler."

-

-"Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you,

-however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this

-morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a

-wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of

-them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found

-Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but

-built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock

-to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well

-furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those

-preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open.

-Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window

-could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round

-it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without

-noting anything else of interest.

-

-"I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that

-there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the

-garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses,

-and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two

-fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire

-about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in

-the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but

-whose biographies I was compelled to listen to."

-

-"And what of Irene Adler?" I asked.

-

-"Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is

-the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the

-Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts,

-drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for

-dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings.

-Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark,

-handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and

-often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See

-the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him

-home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him.

-When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up

-and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan

-of campaign.

-

-"This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the

-matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the

-relation between them, and what the object of his repeated

-visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the

-former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his

-keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this

-question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony

-Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the

-Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my

-inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to

-let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the

-situation."

-

-"I am following you closely," I answered.

-

-"I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab

-drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a

-remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently

-the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a

-great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the

-maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly

-at home.

-

-"He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch

-glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and

-down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see

-nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than

-before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from

-his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he

-shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to

-the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if

-you do it in twenty minutes!'

-

-"Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do

-well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau,

-the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under

-his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of

-the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall

-door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment,

-but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for.

-

-"'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a

-sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.'

-

-"This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing

-whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her

-landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked

-twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could

-object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign

-if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to

-twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind.

-

-"My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the

-others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their

-steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid

-the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there

-save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who

-seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three

-standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side

-aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church.

-Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to

-me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards

-me.

-

-"'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!'

-

-"'What then?' I asked.

-

-"'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.'

-

-"I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was

-I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear,

-and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally

-assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to

-Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and

-there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady

-on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was

-the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my

-life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just

-now. It seems that there had been some informality about their

-license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them

-without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance

-saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in

-search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean

-to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion."

-

-"This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what

-then?"

-

-"Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if

-the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate

-very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church

-door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and

-she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as

-usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove

-away in different directions, and I went off to make my own

-arrangements."

-

-"Which are?"

-

-"Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the

-bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to

-be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want

-your co-operation."

-

-"I shall be delighted."

-

-"You don't mind breaking the law?"

-

-"Not in the least."

-

-"Nor running a chance of arrest?"

-

-"Not in a good cause."

-

-"Oh, the cause is excellent!"

-

-"Then I am your man."

-

-"I was sure that I might rely on you."

-

-"But what is it you wish?"

-

-"When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to

-you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that

-our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I

-have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must

-be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns

-from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her."

-

-"And what then?"

-

-"You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to

-occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must

-not interfere, come what may. You understand?"

-

-"I am to be neutral?"

-

-"To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small

-unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being

-conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the

-sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close

-to that open window."

-

-"Yes."

-

-"You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you."

-

-"Yes."

-

-"And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what

-I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of

-fire. You quite follow me?"

-

-"Entirely."

-

-"It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped

-roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket,

-fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting.

-Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire,

-it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then

-walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten

-minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?"

-

-"I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you,

-and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry

-of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street."

-

-"Precisely."

-

-"Then you may entirely rely on me."

-

-"That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I

-prepare for the new role I have to play."

-

-He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in

-the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist

-clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white

-tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and

-benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have

-equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His

-expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every

-fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as

-science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in

-crime.

-

-It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still

-wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in

-Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just

-being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge,

-waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such

-as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description,

-but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On

-the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was

-remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men

-smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his

-wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and

-several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with

-cigars in their mouths.

-

-"You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of

-the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The

-photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are

-that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey

-Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his

-princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the

-photograph?"

-

-"Where, indeed?"

-

-"It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is

-cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's

-dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid

-and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We

-may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her."

-

-"Where, then?"

-

-"Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But

-I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive,

-and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it

-over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but

-she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be

-brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she

-had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she

-can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house."

-

-"But it has twice been burgled."

-

-"Pshaw! They did not know how to look."

-

-"But how will you look?"

-

-"I will not look."

-

-"What then?"

-

-"I will get her to show me."

-

-"But she will refuse."

-

-"She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is

-her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter."

-

-As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round

-the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which

-rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of

-the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in

-the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another

-loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce

-quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who

-took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder,

-who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and

-in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was

-the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who

-struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes

-dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached

-her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood

-running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to

-their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while

-a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle

-without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to

-attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her,

-had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her

-superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking

-back into the street.

-

-"Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked.