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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 othe