{"id":401,"date":"2016-10-27T13:15:49","date_gmt":"2016-10-27T13:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/ivytech-engl206-master\/?post_type=chapter&p=401"},"modified":"2016-11-10T23:33:02","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T23:33:02","slug":"scandal-in-bohemia-by-arthur-conan-doyle","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-introliterature\/chapter\/scandal-in-bohemia-by-arthur-conan-doyle\/","title":{"raw":"Arthur Conan Doyle, \"Scandal in Bohemia,\" 1891","rendered":"Arthur Conan Doyle, “Scandal in Bohemia,” 1891"},"content":{"raw":"To Sherlock Holmes she is always the<\/i> 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\u2014excellent 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.\r\n\r\nI 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.\r\n\r\nOne night\u2014it was on the 20th of March, 1888\u2014I 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.\r\n\r\nHis 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.\r\n\r\n\u201cWedlock suits you,\u201d he remarked. \u201cI think, Watson, that you have put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cSeven,\u201d I answered.\r\n\r\n\u201cIndeed, 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThen, how do you know?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI 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?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cMy dear Holmes,\u201d said I, \u201cthis 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.\u201d\r\n\r\nHe chuckled to himself and rubbed his long nervous hands together.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt is simplicity itself,\u201d said he; \u201cmy 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 fore-finger, and a bulge on the 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.\u201d\r\n\r\nI could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his process of deduction. \u201cWhen I hear you give your reasons,\u201d I remarked, \u201cthe 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cQuite so,\u201d he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down into an armchair. \u201cYou 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cFrequently.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cHow often?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWell, some hundreds of times.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThen how many are there?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cHow many! I don't know.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cQuite 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.\u201d He threw over a sheet of thick, pink-tinted notepaper which had been lying open upon the table. \u201cIt came by the last post,\u201d said he. \u201cRead it aloud.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe note was undated, and without either signature or address.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight o'clock,\u201d it said, \u201ca 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThis is indeed a mystery,\u201d I remarked. \u201cWhat do you imagine that it means?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorise 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?\u201d\r\n\r\nI carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was written.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe man who wrote it was presumably well to do,\u201d I remarked, endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. \u201cSuch paper could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly strong and stiff.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cPeculiar\u2014that is the very word,\u201d said Holmes. \u201cIt is not an English paper at all. Hold it up to the light.\u201d\r\n\r\nI did so, and saw a large E<\/i> with a small g<\/i>, a P,<\/i> and a large G<\/i> with a small t<\/i> woven into the texture of the paper.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat do you make of that?\u201d asked Holmes.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cNot at all. The G<\/i> with the small t<\/i> stands for \u2018Gesellschaft,\u2019 which is the German for \u2018Company.\u2019 It is a customary contraction like our \u2018Co.\u2019 P<\/i>, of course, stands for \u2018Papier.\u2019 Now for the Eg<\/i>. Let us glance at our Continental Gazetteer.\u201d He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. \u201cEglow, Eglonitz\u2014here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking country\u2014in Bohemia<\/a>, not far from Carlsbad. \u2018Remarkable as being the scene of the death of Wallenstein<\/a>, and for its numerous glass factories and paper mills.\u2019 Ha, ha, my boy, what do you make of that?\u201d His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue triumphant cloud from his cigarette.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe paper was made in Bohemia,\u201d I said.\r\n\r\n\u201cPrecisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you note the peculiar construction of the sentence\u2014\u2018This account of you we have from all quarters received.\u2019 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.\u201d\r\n\r\nAs 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.\r\n\r\n\u201cA pair, by the sound,\u201d said he. \u201cYes,\u201d he continued, glancing out of the window. \u201cA 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI think that I had better go, Holmes.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cNot a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Boswell<\/a>. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity to miss it.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cBut your client\u2014\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cNever 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.\u201d\r\n\r\nA 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.\r\n\r\n\u201cCome in!\u201d said Holmes.\r\n\r\nA 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 half way 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 cheek-bones, 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.\r\n\r\n\u201cYou had my note?\u201d he asked, with a deep harsh voice and a strongly marked German accent. \u201cI told you that I would call.\u201d He looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to address.\r\n\r\n\u201cPray take a seat,\u201d said Holmes. \u201cThis 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?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cYou 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.\u201d\r\n\r\nI rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me back into my chair. \u201cIt is both, or none,\u201d said he. \u201cYou may say before this gentleman anything which you may say to me.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Count shrugged his broad shoulders. \u201cThen I must begin,\u201d said he, \u201cby 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI promise,\u201d said Holmes.\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd I.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cYou will excuse this mask,\u201d continued our strange visitor. \u201cThe 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI was aware of it,\u201d said Holmes dryly.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI was also aware of that,\u201d murmured Holmes, settling himself down in his armchair and closing his eyes.\r\n\r\nOur 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.\r\n\r\n\u201cIf your Majesty would condescend to state your case,\u201d he remarked, \u201cI should be better able to advise you.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe 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. \u201cYou are right,\u201d he cried, \u201cI am the King. Why should I attempt to conceal it?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWhy, indeed?\u201d murmured Holmes. \u201cYour 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cBut you can understand,\u201d said our strange visitor, sitting down once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, \u201cyou 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<\/i> from Prague for the purpose of consulting you.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThen, pray consult,\u201d said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cKindly look her up in my index, Doctor,\u201d 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.\r\n\r\n\u201cLet me see?\u201d said Holmes. \u201cHum! Born in New Jersey in the year 1858. Contralto\u2014hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera of Warsaw\u2014yes! Retired from operatic stage\u2014ha! Living in London\u2014quite 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cPrecisely so. But how\u2014\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWas there a secret marriage?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cNone.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cNo legal papers or certificates?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cNone.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThen 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?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThere is the writing.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cPooh, pooh! Forgery.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cMy private notepaper.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cStolen.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cMy own seal.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cImitated.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cMy photograph.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cBought.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWe were both in the photograph.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cOh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an indiscretion.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI was mad\u2014insane.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cYou have compromised yourself seriously.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cIt must be recovered.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWe have tried and failed.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cYour Majesty must pay. It must be bought.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cShe will not sell.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cStolen, then.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cFive 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cNo sign of it?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAbsolutely none.\u201d\r\n\r\nHolmes laughed. \u201cIt is quite a pretty little problem,\u201d said he.\r\n\r\n\u201cBut a very serious one to me,\u201d returned the King, reproachfully.\r\n\r\n\u201cVery, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the photograph?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cTo ruin me.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cBut how?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI am about to be married.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cSo I have heard.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cTo 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd Irene Adler?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThreatens 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\u2014none.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cYou are sure that she has not sent it yet?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI am sure.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd why?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cBecause she has said that she would send it on the day when the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cOh, then we have three days yet,\u201d said Holmes, with a yawn. \u201cThat 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?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cCertainly. You will find me at the Langham, under the name of the Count Von Kramm.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThen I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cPray do so. I shall be all anxiety.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThen, as to money?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cYou have carte blanche<\/i>.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAbsolutely?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom to have that photograph.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd for present expenses?\u201d\r\n\r\nThe King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak, and laid it on the table.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere are three hundred pounds in gold, and seven hundred in notes,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nHolmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book, and handed it to him.\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd mademoiselle's address?\u201d he asked.\r\n\r\n\u201cIs Briony Lodge, Serpentine-avenue, St. John's Wood.\u201d\r\n\r\nHolmes took a note of it. \u201cOne other question,\u201d said he. \u201cWas the photograph a cabinet?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cIt was.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThen, good night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon have some good news for you. And good night, Watson,\u201d he added, as the wheels of the Royal brougham rolled down the street. \u201cIf 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.\u201d\r\n

II.<\/span>[<\/span>edit<\/a>]<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\r\nAt 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.\r\n\r\nIt 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.\r\n\r\n\u201cWell, really!\u201d he cried, and then he choked; and laughed again until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the chair.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat is it?\u201d\r\n\r\n\"It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I employed my morning, or what I ended by doing.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cQuite 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<\/i> 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.\r\n\r\n\u201cI 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 I 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd what of Irene Adler?\u201d I asked.\r\n\r\n\u201cOh, 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.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI am following you closely,\u201d I answered.\r\n\r\n\u201cI 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\u2014evidently 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.\r\n\r\n\u201cHe 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. \u2018Drive like the devil,\u2019 he shouted, \u2018first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent-street, and then to the Church of St. Monica in the Edgware-road. Half a guinea if you do it in twenty minutes!\u2019\r\n\r\n\u201cAway 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.\r\n\r\n\u201c\u2018The Church of St. Monica, John,\u2019 she cried, \u2018and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.\u2019\r\n\r\n\u201cThis 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. \u2018The Church of St. Monica,\u2019 said I, \u2018and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.\u2019 It was twenty-five minutes to twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind.\r\n\r\n\u201cMy 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThank God!\u201d he cried. \u201cYou'll do. Come! Come!\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat then?\u201d I asked.\r\n\r\n\u201cCome man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.\u201d\r\n\r\nI 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThis is a very unexpected turn of affairs,\u201d said I; \u201cand what then?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWell, 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. \u2018I shall drive out in the Park at five as usual,\u2019 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWhich are?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cSome cold beef and a glass of beer,\u201d he answered, ringing the bell. \u201cI 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI shall be delighted.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cYou don't mind breaking the law?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cNot in the least.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cNor running a chance of arrest?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cNot in a good cause.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cOh, the cause is excellent!\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThen I am your man.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI was sure that I might rely on you.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cBut what is it you wish?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWhen Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to you. Now,\u201d he said, as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that our landlady had provided, \u201cI 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd what then?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cYou 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?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI am to be neutral?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cTo 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cYes.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cYou are to watch me, for I will be visible to you.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cYes.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd when I raise my hand\u2014so\u2014you 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?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cEntirely.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cIt is nothing very formidable,\u201d he said, taking a long cigar-shaped roll from his pocket. \u201cIt 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?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cPrecisely.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThen you may entirely rely on me.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThat is excellent. I think perhaps it is almost time that I prepare for the new r\u00f4le<\/i> I have to play.\u201d\r\n\r\nHe 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<\/a> 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.\r\n\r\nIt 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.\r\n\r\n\u201cYou see,\u201d remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of the house, \u201cthis 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\u2014Where are we to find the photograph?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWhere, indeed?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cIt 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWhere, then?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cHer 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.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cBut it has twice been burgled.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cPshaw! They did not know how to look.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cBut how will you look?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI will not look.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat then?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI will get her to show me.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cBut she will refuse.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cShe will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter.\u201d\r\n\r\nAs he spoke the gleam of the sidelights 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.\r\n\r\n\u201cIs the poor gentleman much hurt?\u201d she asked.\r\n\r\n\u201cHe is dead,\u201d cried several voices.\r\n\r\n\u201cNo, no, there's life in him,\u201d shouted another. \u201cBut he'll be gone before you can get him to hospital.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cHe's a brave fellow,\u201d said a woman. \u201cThey would have had the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a gang, and a rough one too. Ah, he's breathing now.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cHe can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cSurely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable sofa. This way, please!\"\r\n\r\nSlowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge, and laid out in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had entrusted to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are but preventing her from injuring another.\r\n\r\nHolmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand, and at the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of \u201cFire.\u201d The word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of spectators, well dressed and ill\u2014gentlemen, ostlers, and servant maids\u2014joined in a general shriek of \u201cFire.\u201d Thick clouds of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice of Holmes from within, assuring them that it was a false alarm. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes, until we had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the Edgware-road.\r\n\r\n\u201cYou did it very nicely, Doctor,\u201d he remarked. \u201cNothing could have been better. It is all right.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cYou have the photograph!\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI know where it is.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd how did you find out?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cShe showed me, as I told you that she would.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI am still in the dark.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI do not wish to make a mystery,\u201d said he laughing. \u201cThe matter was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI guessed as much.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThen, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThat also I could fathom.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThen they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your chance.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cHow did that help you?\u201d\r\n\r\n\"It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Darlington Substitution Scandal it was of use to me, and also in the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby\u2014an unmarried one reaches for her jewel box. Now it was clear to me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the right bell pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a glimpse of it as she half drew it out. When I cried out that it was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had come in, and, as he was watching me narrowly, it seemed safer to wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd now?\u201d I asked.\r\n\r\n\u201cOur quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the photograph. It might be a satisfaction to His Majesty to regain it with his own hands.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd when will you call?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAt eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to the King without delay.\u201d\r\n\r\nWe had reached Baker-street, and had stopped at the door. He was searching his pockets for the key, when someone passing said:\u2014\r\n\r\n\u201cGood-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes.\u201d\r\n\r\nThere were several people on the pavement at the time, but the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had hurried by.\r\n\r\n\u201cI've heard that voice before,\u201d said Holmes, staring down the dimly lit street. \u201cNow, I wonder who the deuce that could have been.\u201d\r\n

III.<\/span>[<\/span>edit<\/a>]<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\r\nI slept at Baker-street that night, and we were engaged upon our toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed into the room.\r\n\r\n\u201cYou have really got it!\u201d he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by either shoulder, and looking eagerly into his face.\r\n\r\n\u201cNot yet.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cBut you have hopes?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI have hopes.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThen, come. I am all impatience to be gone.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWe must have a cab.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cNo, my brougham is waiting.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThen that will simplify matters.\u201d We descended, and started off once more for Briony Lodge.\r\n\r\n\u201cIrene Adler is married,\u201d remarked Holmes.\r\n\r\n\u201cMarried! When?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cYesterday.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cBut to whom?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cTo an English lawyer named Norton.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cBut she could not love him?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI am in hopes that she does.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd why in hopes?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cBecause it would spare your Majesty all fear of future annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cIt is true. And yet\u2014! Well! I wish she had been of my own station! What a queen she would have made!\u201d He relapsed into a moody silence which was not broken, until we drew up in Serpentine-avenue.\r\n\r\nThe door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped from the brougham.\r\n\r\n\u201cMr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?\u201d said she.\r\n\r\n\u201cI am Mr. Holmes,\u201d answered my companion, looking at her with a questioning and rather startled gaze.\r\n\r\n\u201cIndeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She left this morning with her husband, by the 5.15 train from Charing-cross, for the Continent.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat!\u201d Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and surprise. \u201cDo you mean that she has left England?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cNever to return.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAnd the papers?\u201d asked the King, hoarsely. \u201cAll is lost.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWe shall see.\u201d He pushed past the servant, and rushed into the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves, and open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to \u201cSherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for.\u201d My friend tore it open, and we all three read it together. It was dated at midnight of the preceding night, and ran in this way:\u2014\r\n\r\n\u201cMy Dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes,\u2014You really did it very well. You took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had been told that, if the King employed an agent, it would certainly be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking clothes, as I call them, and came down just as you departed.\r\n\r\n\u201cWell, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good night, and started for the Temple to see my husband.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, very truly yours,\r\n
\r\n \t
\u201cIrene Norton, n\u00e9e<\/i> Adler.\u201d<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n\u201cWhat a woman\u2014oh, what a woman!\u201d cried the King of Bohemia, when we had all three read this epistle. \u201cDid I not tell you how quick and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cFrom what I have seen of the lady, she seems, indeed, to be on a very different level to your Majesty,\u201d said Holmes, coldly. \u201cI am sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business to a more successful conclusion.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cOn the contrary, my dear sir,\u201d cried the King. \u201cNothing could be more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI am glad to hear your Majesty say so.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can reward you. This ring\u2014.\u201d He slipped an emerald snake ring from his finger, and held it out upon the palm of his hand.\r\n\r\n\u201cYour Majesty has something which I should value even more highly,\u201d said Holmes.\r\n\r\n\u201cYou have but to name it.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThis photograph!\u201d\r\n\r\nThe King stared at him in amazement.\r\n\r\n\u201cIrene's photograph!\u201d he cried. \u201cCertainly, if you wish it.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good morning.\u201d He bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his chambers.\r\n\r\nAnd that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the<\/i> woman.\r\n\r\n \r\n
\r\n\r\nSir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle<\/b>\u00a0(22 May 1859\u00a0\u2013 7 July 1930) was a Scottish writer and physician, most noted for creating the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and writing stories about him which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction.\r\n\r\nHe is also known for writing the fictional adventures of a second character he invented, Professor Challenger, and for popularizing the mystery of the Mary Celeste<\/i>. He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n ","rendered":"

To Sherlock Holmes she is always the<\/i> 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\u2014excellent 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

One night\u2014it was on the 20th of March, 1888\u2014I 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWedlock suits you,\u201d he remarked. \u201cI think, Watson, that you have put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSeven,\u201d I answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, how do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dear Holmes,\u201d said I, \u201cthis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long nervous hands together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is simplicity itself,\u201d said he; \u201cmy 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 fore-finger, and a bulge on the 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his process of deduction. \u201cWhen I hear you give your reasons,\u201d I remarked, \u201cthe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite so,\u201d he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down into an armchair. \u201cYou 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrequently.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow often?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, some hundreds of times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen how many are there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many! I don’t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite 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.\u201d He threw over a sheet of thick, pink-tinted notepaper which had been lying open upon the table. \u201cIt came by the last post,\u201d said he. \u201cRead it aloud.\u201d<\/p>\n

The note was undated, and without either signature or address.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight o’clock,\u201d it said, \u201ca 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is indeed a mystery,\u201d I remarked. \u201cWhat do you imagine that it means?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorise 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was written.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe man who wrote it was presumably well to do,\u201d I remarked, endeavouring to imitate my companion’s processes. \u201cSuch paper could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly strong and stiff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeculiar\u2014that is the very word,\u201d said Holmes. \u201cIt is not an English paper at all. Hold it up to the light.\u201d<\/p>\n

I did so, and saw a large E<\/i> with a small g<\/i>, a P,<\/i> and a large G<\/i> with a small t<\/i> woven into the texture of the paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you make of that?\u201d asked Holmes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot at all. The G<\/i> with the small t<\/i> stands for \u2018Gesellschaft,\u2019 which is the German for \u2018Company.\u2019 It is a customary contraction like our \u2018Co.\u2019 P<\/i>, of course, stands for \u2018Papier.\u2019 Now for the Eg<\/i>. Let us glance at our Continental Gazetteer.\u201d He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. \u201cEglow, Eglonitz\u2014here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking country\u2014in Bohemia<\/a>, not far from Carlsbad. \u2018Remarkable as being the scene of the death of Wallenstein<\/a>, and for its numerous glass factories and paper mills.\u2019 Ha, ha, my boy, what do you make of that?\u201d His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue triumphant cloud from his cigarette.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe paper was made in Bohemia,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrecisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you note the peculiar construction of the sentence\u2014\u2018This account of you we have from all quarters received.\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cA pair, by the sound,\u201d said he. \u201cYes,\u201d he continued, glancing out of the window. \u201cA 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that I had better go, Holmes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Boswell<\/a>. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity to miss it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut your client\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNever 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome in!\u201d said Holmes.<\/p>\n

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 half way 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 cheek-bones, 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had my note?\u201d he asked, with a deep harsh voice and a strongly marked German accent. \u201cI told you that I would call.\u201d He looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to address.<\/p>\n

\u201cPray take a seat,\u201d said Holmes. \u201cThis 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me back into my chair. \u201cIt is both, or none,\u201d said he. \u201cYou may say before this gentleman anything which you may say to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. \u201cThen I must begin,\u201d said he, \u201cby 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI promise,\u201d said Holmes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will excuse this mask,\u201d continued our strange visitor. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was aware of it,\u201d said Holmes dryly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was also aware of that,\u201d murmured Holmes, settling himself down in his armchair and closing his eyes.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf your Majesty would condescend to state your case,\u201d he remarked, \u201cI should be better able to advise you.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. \u201cYou are right,\u201d he cried, \u201cI am the King. Why should I attempt to conceal it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy, indeed?\u201d murmured Holmes. \u201cYour 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you can understand,\u201d said our strange visitor, sitting down once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, \u201cyou 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<\/i> from Prague for the purpose of consulting you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, pray consult,\u201d said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKindly look her up in my index, Doctor,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me see?\u201d said Holmes. \u201cHum! Born in New Jersey in the year 1858. Contralto\u2014hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera of Warsaw\u2014yes! Retired from operatic stage\u2014ha! Living in London\u2014quite 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPrecisely so. But how\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWas there a secret marriage?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo legal papers or certificates?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is the writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPooh, pooh! Forgery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy private notepaper.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStolen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy own seal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cImitated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBought.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were both in the photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an indiscretion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was mad\u2014insane.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have compromised yourself seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt must be recovered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have tried and failed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour Majesty must pay. It must be bought.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe will not sell.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStolen, then.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFive 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo sign of it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely none.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holmes laughed. \u201cIt is quite a pretty little problem,\u201d said he.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut a very serious one to me,\u201d returned the King, reproachfully.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the photograph?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo ruin me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut how?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am about to be married.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I have heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Irene Adler?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThreatens 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\u2014none.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are sure that she has not sent it yet?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd why?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause she has said that she would send it on the day when the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, then we have three days yet,\u201d said Holmes, with a yawn. \u201cThat 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly. You will find me at the Langham, under the name of the Count Von Kramm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPray do so. I shall be all anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, as to money?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have carte blanche<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom to have that photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for present expenses?\u201d<\/p>\n

The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak, and laid it on the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are three hundred pounds in gold, and seven hundred in notes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book, and handed it to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd mademoiselle’s address?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Briony Lodge, Serpentine-avenue, St. John’s Wood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holmes took a note of it. \u201cOne other question,\u201d said he. \u201cWas the photograph a cabinet?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, good night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon have some good news for you. And good night, Watson,\u201d he added, as the wheels of the Royal brougham rolled down the street. \u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

II.<\/span>[<\/span>edit<\/a>]<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, really!\u201d he cried, and then he choked; and laughed again until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

“It’s quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I employed my morning, or what I ended by doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can’t imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite 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<\/i> 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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 I 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what of Irene Adler?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am following you closely,\u201d I answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2014evidently 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe 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. \u2018Drive like the devil,\u2019 he shouted, \u2018first to Gross & Hankey’s in Regent-street, and then to the Church of St. Monica in the Edgware-road. Half a guinea if you do it in twenty minutes!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAway 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.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018The Church of St. Monica, John,\u2019 she cried, \u2018and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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. \u2018The Church of St. Monica,\u2019 said I, \u2018and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.\u2019 It was twenty-five minutes to twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank God!\u201d he cried. \u201cYou’ll do. Come! Come!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat then?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome man, come, only three minutes, or it won’t be legal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very unexpected turn of affairs,\u201d said I; \u201cand what then?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, 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. \u2018I shall drive out in the Park at five as usual,\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich are?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome cold beef and a glass of beer,\u201d he answered, ringing the bell. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI shall be delighted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don’t mind breaking the law?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot in the least.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNor running a chance of arrest?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot in a good cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, the cause is excellent!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I am your man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was sure that I might rely on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what is it you wish?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to you. Now,\u201d he said, as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that our landlady had provided, \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what then?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am to be neutral?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are to watch me, for I will be visible to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when I raise my hand\u2014so\u2014you 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEntirely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is nothing very formidable,\u201d he said, taking a long cigar-shaped roll from his pocket. \u201cIt 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPrecisely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen you may entirely rely on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is excellent. I think perhaps it is almost time that I prepare for the new r\u00f4le<\/i> I have to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see,\u201d remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of the house, \u201cthis 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\u2014Where are we to find the photograph?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere, indeed?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere, then?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHer 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it has twice been burgled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPshaw! They did not know how to look.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut how will you look?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not look.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat then?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI will get her to show me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut she will refuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he spoke the gleam of the sidelights 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs the poor gentleman much hurt?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is dead,\u201d cried several voices.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, no, there’s life in him,\u201d shouted another. \u201cBut he’ll be gone before you can get him to hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s a brave fellow,\u201d said a woman. \u201cThey would have had the lady’s purse and watch if it hadn’t been for him. They were a gang, and a rough one too. Ah, he’s breathing now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can’t lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSurely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable sofa. This way, please!”<\/p>\n

Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge, and laid out in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had entrusted to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are but preventing her from injuring another.<\/p>\n

Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand, and at the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of \u201cFire.\u201d The word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of spectators, well dressed and ill\u2014gentlemen, ostlers, and servant maids\u2014joined in a general shriek of \u201cFire.\u201d Thick clouds of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice of Holmes from within, assuring them that it was a false alarm. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my friend’s arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes, until we had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the Edgware-road.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou did it very nicely, Doctor,\u201d he remarked. \u201cNothing could have been better. It is all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have the photograph!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know where it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd how did you find out?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe showed me, as I told you that she would.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am still in the dark.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not wish to make a mystery,\u201d said he laughing. \u201cThe matter was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI guessed as much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat also I could fathom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow did that help you?\u201d<\/p>\n

“It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Darlington Substitution Scandal it was of use to me, and also in the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby\u2014an unmarried one reaches for her jewel box. Now it was clear to me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the right bell pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a glimpse of it as she half drew it out. When I cried out that it was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had come in, and, as he was watching me narrowly, it seemed safer to wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the photograph. It might be a satisfaction to His Majesty to regain it with his own hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when will you call?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to the King without delay.\u201d<\/p>\n

We had reached Baker-street, and had stopped at the door. He was searching his pockets for the key, when someone passing said:\u2014<\/p>\n

\u201cGood-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had hurried by.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve heard that voice before,\u201d said Holmes, staring down the dimly lit street. \u201cNow, I wonder who the deuce that could have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

III.<\/span>[<\/span>edit<\/a>]<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

I slept at Baker-street that night, and we were engaged upon our toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed into the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have really got it!\u201d he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by either shoulder, and looking eagerly into his face.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you have hopes?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have hopes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, come. I am all impatience to be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must have a cab.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, my brougham is waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen that will simplify matters.\u201d We descended, and started off once more for Briony Lodge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIrene Adler is married,\u201d remarked Holmes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarried! When?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut to whom?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo an English lawyer named Norton.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut she could not love him?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am in hopes that she does.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd why in hopes?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it would spare your Majesty all fear of future annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason why she should interfere with your Majesty’s plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is true. And yet\u2014! Well! I wish she had been of my own station! What a queen she would have made!\u201d He relapsed into a moody silence which was not broken, until we drew up in Serpentine-avenue.<\/p>\n

The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped from the brougham.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?\u201d said she.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am Mr. Holmes,\u201d answered my companion, looking at her with a questioning and rather startled gaze.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She left this morning with her husband, by the 5.15 train from Charing-cross, for the Continent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat!\u201d Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and surprise. \u201cDo you mean that she has left England?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNever to return.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the papers?\u201d asked the King, hoarsely. \u201cAll is lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shall see.\u201d He pushed past the servant, and rushed into the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves, and open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to \u201cSherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for.\u201d My friend tore it open, and we all three read it together. It was dated at midnight of the preceding night, and ran in this way:\u2014<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes,\u2014You really did it very well. You took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had been told that, if the King employed an agent, it would certainly be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking clothes, as I call them, and came down just as you departed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good night, and started for the Temple to see my husband.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, very truly yours,<\/p>\n

\n
\u201cIrene Norton, n\u00e9e<\/i> Adler.\u201d<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

\u201cWhat a woman\u2014oh, what a woman!\u201d cried the King of Bohemia, when we had all three read this epistle. \u201cDid I not tell you how quick and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I have seen of the lady, she seems, indeed, to be on a very different level to your Majesty,\u201d said Holmes, coldly. \u201cI am sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty’s business to a more successful conclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the contrary, my dear sir,\u201d cried the King. \u201cNothing could be more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am glad to hear your Majesty say so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can reward you. This ring\u2014.\u201d He slipped an emerald snake ring from his finger, and held it out upon the palm of his hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour Majesty has something which I should value even more highly,\u201d said Holmes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have but to name it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis photograph!\u201d<\/p>\n

The King stared at him in amazement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIrene’s photograph!\u201d he cried. \u201cCertainly, if you wish it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good morning.\u201d He bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his chambers.<\/p>\n

And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were beaten by a woman’s wit. He used to make merry over the cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the<\/i> woman.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle<\/b>\u00a0(22 May 1859\u00a0\u2013 7 July 1930) was a Scottish writer and physician, most noted for creating the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and writing stories about him which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction.<\/p>\n

He is also known for writing the fictional adventures of a second character he invented, Professor Challenger, and for popularizing the mystery of the Mary Celeste<\/i>. He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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