Classic Adventure Books - Daily
A Scandal in Bohemia - Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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(speaking in foreign language) - We wear our work, day-by-day, stitch-by-stitch. (speaking in foreign language) - We wear our work, day-by-day, stitch-by-stitch. - At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. So, whether you're gearing up for a new project, or looking to add some tried and true workware to your collection, remember that Dickies has been standing the test of time for a reason. The workware isn't just about looking good, it's about performing under pressure and lasting through the toughest jobs. Head over to Dickies.com and use the promo code Workware20 at checkout to save 20% on your purchase. It's the perfect time to experience the quality and reliability that has made Dickies a trusted name for over a century. - A scandal in Bohemia. Sections one through three, section one. To show her combs, she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In her 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 jive and a sneer. They were admirable things for the observer. Excellent for drawing the veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor, which might throw a doubt on all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument or a crack in one of his own high-powered lenses would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his. And yet, there was but one woman to him and that woman was the late Irene Adler of dubious and questionable memory. I have seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us away from each other. My own complete happiness and the home-centered interests, which rise up around the man who first finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to absorb all my attentions. 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 altering from week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug and the fierce energy of his own key 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 these 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 trip off murder, of his clearing up of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Tricomale, and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. Beyond the science of his activity, however, which I merely shared with all the readers of the Daily Press, I knew little of my former friend and companion. One night, it was on the 20th of March, 1888, I was returning from a journey to a patient for I had now returned to civil practice, when my way led me through Baker Street. As I passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated in my mind with my wowing, and with the dark incidents of the Stoughton Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and even as I looked up, I saw his tall spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the blind. He was pacing the room. Swiftly, eagerly, with his head sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner, told their own story, he was at work again. He had risen out of his drug-created dreams, and was hot upon the scent of some new problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber, which had formerly been in part my own. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was, but he was glad, I think, to see me. It was hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly eye, he waved me an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, and indicated a spirit case, and a gas machine in the corner. Then he stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular introspective fashion. "Wetlock suits you," he remarked. "I think Watson, that you have put on seven and a half pounds, since I saw you." "Seven," I answered. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more, just a trifle more," I fancy Watson. "And in practice again, I observe. You did not tell me that you intended to go into harness. Then how do you know?" "I see it. I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and careless servant, girl?" "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You had 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 incourgible, and my wife has given her notice. But there again I felt to see how you work it out." He chuckled to himself, and rubbed his long nervous hands together. "It is simplicity itself," said he, "my eyes tell me that on the inside of your left shoe. Just where the far light strikes it, the leather is scourged by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously, they have been caused by someone who has very careless scraped around the edges of the soles in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see my double deduction, that you have been out in vile weather, and that you have a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the London Slave. As to your practice, if a gentleman walks into my room smelling of Ayadorn with a black mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger and a budge on the right side of his top hat, to show where he has secreted his stethoscope. I must be dull indeed, if I did not pronounce him to be an active member of the medical profession. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he examined his process." We wear our work, day by day, stitch by stitch. At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. 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When I hear you give your reasons, I remark, the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning, I am baffled until you explain your process, and yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours. Quite so, he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down into an armchair. You see, but you do not observe, the distinction is clear, for example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room, frequently, hell often, well some hundred of times, then how many are there? How many, I don't know, quite so, you have not observed. And yet you have seen, that is just my point. Now I know that there are 17 steps, because I have both seen and observed. By the way, since you are interested in these little problems, and since you have been good enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you may be interested in this. He threw over a sheet of thick, pink-tinted notepaper, which had been lying upon the table. It came by the last post, said he, read it aloud. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "There will call upon you tonight, at a quarter to eight o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a matter of this 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 will have from all quarters received. But in your chamber, then at that hour, and do not take it amiss if your visitor wears a mask." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. What do you imagine that it means? I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Incensibly, one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself, what do you deduce from it? I certainly examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was written. The man who wrote it was presumably well-to-do, I remarked, endeavoring to imitate my companion's process. Such paper could not be under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly strong and stiff. "Peculiar, that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an English paper at all, hold it up to the like." I did so, and saw a large E with a small G, a P, and a large G, with a small T woven into the texture of the paper. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "The name of the maker, no doubt," or his monogram, rather. "Not at all. The G with a small T stands for Gesselchaft, which is German for Company. It is a customary contraction like our CO. P, of course, stands for Paper. Now for the EG, that is glanced at our continual consent here. He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. You glow, you glow, here we are, Egeria, it is in a German-speaking country in Bohemia, not far from cow's bad, remarkably as being the scene of the death of Walstein and for its numerous glass factories and paper mills. "Haha, my boy. What do you make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he set up a great blue triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said, "Precisely, and the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you know of the particular contraction of the sentence, this account of you we have from all quarters received. A Frenchman or Russian could not have written that. It is the German who is so uncountorous 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 solve all our doubts. As he spoke, there is the sharp sound of horses hooves, and the grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the bell. Holmes whistled. "A pair by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued glancing out of the window, "a nice little brogman, and a pair of beauties, a hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in this case, Watson, if there is nothing else. I think that I had better go, Holmes." "Not a bit, doctor, stay where you are, I am lost without my bosswell, and that promises to be interesting. It would be a pity to miss it. But your client, never mind him, I may want your help, and so may he. Here he comes, sit down in that armchair, doctor, and give us your best attention. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs, and in the passage, paused immediately outside the door, then there was a loud and authoritative tap. "Come in!" said Holmes. A man entered, who could hardly have been less than six feet, six inches in height. With the chest and limbers of a Hercules. His dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked upon as a kin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrachin were slashed across the sleeves, and fronts of his double-breasted coat. While the deep blue coat, which was thrown over his shoulders, was lined with flame-colored silk and secured at the neck with a broach, which consisted of a single flaming barrel. Boots, which extended halfway up his cogs, and which were trimmed at the tops with rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence, which was suggested by the whole appearance. He carried a broad-brimmed hat in his hand. While he wore across the upper part of his face, extending down the past the cheekbones of black wizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. In the lower part of the face, he appeared to be a man of strong character. We wear our work, day by day, stitch by stitch. At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. So whether you're gearing up for a new project, or looking to add some tried and true workware to your collection, remember that Dickies has been standing the test of time for a reason. Their workware isn't just about looking good. It's about performing under pressure and lasting through the toughest jobs. Head over to Dickies.com and use the promo code Workware20 at checkout to save 20% on your purchase. It's the perfect time to experience the quality and reliability that has made Dickies a trusted name for over a century. Fall into big savings! All in the King Supers app. Buy two get two free on 12 packs of delicious Coca-Cola Pepsi or 7-Up, then get 3-pound packs of flavorful 93% extra lean ground beef for $3.99 a pound, all with your card. Shop these deals at your local King Supers, less than 5 miles away, or tap the screen now to download the King Supers app to save big today. King Supers, fresh for everyone, prices and product availability subject to change, restrictions apply. See site for details. With a thick hanging lip and a long, straight chin suggestive of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. You had my note? He asked with a deep harsh voice and a strongly marked German accent. I told you that I would call. He looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to address. "Trey, take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me in my cases, whom have I the honor to address. You may address me as Count von Kram, a bohemian, no bullman. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honor and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most extreme importance, if not, I should much prefer to communicate with you alone." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me back into my chair. "It is both or none," said he, "you may see before this gentleman anything which you may say to me. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years. At the end of that time, the matter will be of no importance. At present, it is too much to say that it is of such weight, it may have an influence upon European history. I promise," said Holmes, and I, "you may excuse this mask," counted our strange visitor. The August person, who employs me, wishes his agent to be unknown to you. And I may confess at once that the title by which I have just called myself is not exactly my own. "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense scandal, and seriously compromise one of the ranging families of Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great house of Amstien Herditori, kings of Bohemia. I was also aware of that murmured Holmes, setting himself down in his armchair, closing his eyes. A visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the legit longing figure of the man, who had been no doubt depicted to him as the most insensitive reasoner, a most energetic agent in Europe, Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently as a gigantic client. If your majesty would condescend to state your case, he remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in uncontrollable agitation. Then with a gesture of desperation, he tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You are right," he cried, "I am the king. Why should I attempt to conceal it?" "Why, indeed," murmured Holmes, "your majesty had not spoken before. I was aware that I was addressing William Gottstrich Sigmund von Amstrum, Grand Duke of Castle Flassen, and hereditary King of Bohemia. But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead. You can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in my own person, that I could not confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I have come incognito from pregue, from the purpose of consulting you." "Then pray, consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. The facts are briefly these. Some five years ago, during a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known adventurous Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you. I kindly look her up in my index doctor, murmured Holmes, without opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of docking, 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 Hebrew Rabbi and that of Staff Commender, who had written a monograph upon the deep sea fishes. Let me see," said Holmes, home. Born in New Jersey in the year 1858, "Contrito, hmm, let Skala, hmm, prima donna imperial opera of Warsaw, yes, retired from the operating stage, ha, living in London, quite so, your majesty, as I understand, become entangled with this young person," wrote her some comprising letters, and is now desirous of getting these letters back. Precisely so, but how? Was there a secret marriage? None. No legal papers or certificates? None. Then I failed to follow your majesty, if this young person should produce her letters from blackmailing or other purposes, how is she to prove their authenticity? There is writing, "Pohu, forgery." My private notepaper, stolen. My own seal, imitated. My photograph, but we were both in the photograph, oh dear, that is very bad. Your majesty has indeed committed an indiscretion. I was mad, insane. You have compromised yourself seriously. I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now. It must be recovered. We have tried and failed. Your majesty must pay. It must be bought. She will not sell. Pullen then, five attempts have been made. Twice, burglars in my pay, ransacked her house. One sweet diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice, she had been waylaid. There has been no result. No sign of it? Absolutely none. Holmes left. It is quite a pretty little problem, said he, but a very serious one to me. Returned the king, reproachfully. Only indeed, what does she propose to do with the photograph, to ruin me, but how? I am about to be married, so I have heard. To Claudia Lourman, Von Saksy, Monty and Gwynn, second daughter of the King of Scandinavia. You may know that 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 match to an end. And Irene Eclar, threat is to send him a 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 woman, and the mind of the most resolute. We wear our work, day by day, stitch by stitch. At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. So whether you're gearing up for a new project, or looking to add some tried and true workwear to your collection, remember that Dickies has been standing the test of time for a reason. The workwear isn't just about looking good, it's about performing under pressure and lasting through the toughest jobs. Head over to Dickies.com and use the promo code Workwear20 at checkout to save 20% on your purchase. It's the perfect time to experience the quality and reliability that has made Dickies a trusted name for over a century. Fall into big savings! All in the King Supers app. Buy two get two free on 12 packs of delicious Coca-Cola, Pepsi or 7-Up. Then get 3-pound packs of flavorful 93% extra lean ground beef for $3.99 a pound, all with your card. Shop these deals at your local King Supers, less than 5 miles away, or tap the screen now to download the King Supers app to save big today. King Supers, fresh for everyone, prices and product availability subject to change, restrictions apply. See site for details. Of men, rather than I should marry another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not go none. You are sure that she has no sentence yet, I am sure, and why? Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the patrol was publicly proclaimed. That would be next Monday. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with the on. "That is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in London for the present." "Certainly. You will find me at the long ram under the name of the Count von Kram. Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety. Then as to money, you have a culty branch, absolutely. I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom to have that photograph. And for the present expenses, the King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak and laid it on the table. There are three hundred pounds in a gold and seven hundred in notes," he said. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his notebook and handed it to him. And Mademoiselle's address, he asked, "Is brawny lodge subpoutine avenue St. John's Wood?" Holmes took a note of it. "What other question?" said he. "Was the photograph a cabinet?" it was. "Then good-night, Your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon have some good news for you." "And good-night, Watson," he added, as the wheels of the Royal Broadham rolled down the street. "If you will be good enough to call tomorrow afternoon at three o'clock, I should like to chat this little matter over with you." End of section one. Section two. "At three o'clock precisely, I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had not yet returned. The land-glady 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 David 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 distinguished the most inexactable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable success that the very possibility of his felling had ceased to enter into my head. It was close upon four before the door opened, and a drunken-looking groom ill-kept and inside a whisker 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, once he emerged in five minutes, too suited and respectable as of all, putting his hands into his pockets. He stretched out his legs in front of the fire and laughing heartily for some minutes. "Well, really," he cried, and then he choked and laughed again, until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless in the chair. What is it? It's quite too funny, I am sure you could never guess how I employed my morning, or what I ended by doing. I can't imagine, I suppose that you have been watching the habits and perhaps the house of Miss Irene Adler? Quite so, but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, however, I left the house a little after eight o'clock this morning, in the character of a groom, out of walk. There is a wonderful sympathy, and Freemasonry, among horseamen, but one of them, and you will know all that there is to know, I soon found Brotney Lorge. It is a Bezou villa, with a garden at the back, but built on it right up to the road. Two stories chub-lock to the door, Lorge sitting-room on the right side, well furnished with long windows, almost to the floor, and those prosperous English window fasteners which a child could open, behind there was nothing remarkable, save the passage window could be reached from the top of the cojil. I walked round it and examined it, closely from every point of view, but without nothing anything else of interest. I then lodged down the street, and found as I expected that there was a news in a lane which runs down by one wall of the garden. I went the Oslers, hand in rubbing down their houses, and received, in exchange, two pens, a glass of half and half, two fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could decide about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the neighbourhood, in whom I was not in the least interested, but whose biographies I was compelled to listen to. "And what have I re-nadler?" I asked. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that pot. She is the daintiest thing under a bonich on the planet. So say the supreme news to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven shops for dinner. Sell them 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. The cold's less than once a day, and often twice. He is Mr. Godfrey, Norton of the Inner Temple. See the advantages of a carbon as a confident? They have driven him." We wear our work, day by day, stitch by stitch. At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. So whether you're gearing up for a new project, or looking to add some tried and true workware to your collection, remember that Dickies has been standing the test of time for a reason. The workware isn't just about looking good. It's about performing under pressure and lasting through the toughest jobs. Head over to Dickies.com and use the promo code Workware20 at checkout to save 20% on your purchase. It's the perfect time to experience the quality and reliability that has made Dickies a trusted name for over a century. Feeling overwhelmed? Struggling with mental health shouldn't be the norm. At Mindful Therapy Group, we specialize in connecting you with compassionate therapists that can support you through stress, anxiety, ADHD, and so much more. Within-person and telehealth appointments available, we can get you seen in as little as 48 hours. To make things easier, Mindful Therapy Group accepts most health insurance, including Medicare, allowing you to focus on you and not your wallet. Visit Mindful Therapy Group.com to start your mental health journey today. I'm home a dozen of times from seven time news, and knew all about him. When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up and down near briny lodge, once more, and to think over my plan of campaign. This gold frame in 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 later it was less likely on the issue of this question deepened, whether I should continue my work at briny lodge or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the temple. It was a delicate point, and it wanted the field of my inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to let you see my little difficulties. If you are to understand the situation. "I am following you closely," I answered. I was still balancing the matter in my mind, when a handsome cab drove up to briny lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a remarkably handsome man, dark, a quailine, and mustached, evidently the man of whom I have heard. He appeared to be in a great hurry, shouted to the cab man to wait, and brushed past the maid, who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly at home. He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting room, pacing up and down, talking excitedly and waving his arms. Of her I could see nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more fluried than before. As he stepped up into the cab, he pulled a gold watch from his pocket, and looked at it earnestly. "Drive like the devil," he shouted, "first to cross and honkries in Regret Street, and then to the tread of St. Monica, in Regret Road, half a guinea if you do it in twenty minutes." Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do well to follow them. One of the lane came a neat little laundry. The coachmen, with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall, door, and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "The church of St. Monica, John," she cried, "and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes." This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing whether I should run for it, or whether I should purge behind her landue, when a cab came through the street. The driver looked twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could object. "The church of St. Monica," said I, "and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes." It was twenty-five minutes to twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. My cabbie drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the others were there before us. The cab and the landue, 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 exposulating with them. They were all three standing in a naught, in front of the altar. I longed up the side a style like any other idler, who has dropped into a church. Only to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to me, and called Fredno and came roaming as hard as he could toward me. "Hank!" he cried. "You'll do. Come, come!" "What then?" I asked. "Come, man. Come only three minutes, or it won't be legal. I was half-tracked 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's spinster to God Fredno in 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 in my life, and it was the thought of it that startled me into 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 soundly out into the street in search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean to wear on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "That is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I. "And what then?" "Well, I found my plans very seriously mensed. It looked as if the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessity very prompt and energetic ventures on my part. At the church-door, however, they separated, he driving back to the temple, and she to her own house. "I shall drive out into the park at five as usual," he said, as she left him, I heard no more. They drove away in different directions, and I went off to make my own arrangements, which are "some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the bell, "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to be busier still. This evening, by the way, doctor, I shall want your cooperation. I shall be delighted. You don't mind breaking the law—not in the least—no running a chance of a rest, not in a good cause—oh, the case is excellent, then I am your man. I was sure that I might rely on you—but what do you wish? When Miss Turner has brought in the tray, I will make it clear to you now," he said, as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that our land-lady had provided. "I must discuss it while I eat, for I have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must be on the scene of action. Miss Irene or Madame, rather, returns from her drive at seven. We must be at Bryony Vauge to meet her. And what then? You leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to occur. There is only one point on which I must insist you must not interfere. Come what may. You understand? I am to be neutral, to do nothing, whatever. There will probably be some small unpleasantness—do not join in it. It will end in my being conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards, the sitting-room window will be open. You are to station yourself close to that open window. Yes? You are to watch me, for I have been visible to you. Yes? I, when I raise my hand, so you will throw into the room what I give you to throw. And will, at the same time, raise the cry of FIRE! You quite follow me? Entirely. It is nothing more formidable, he said, taking a long cigar-shaped roar from his pocket. It is an ordinary plumber's smoke rocket fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of FIRE, it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear. I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, and at your signal, to throw this object, then to raise the cry of FIRE! And to wait you at the corner of the street. Precisely. Then you may entirely rely on me. That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I prepare for the new role I have to play. He disappeared into his bedroom, and returned in a few minutes, in the character of an amiable and simple-minded, non-confused clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering, and benevolent curiosity, where such as Mr. John Hare, alone, could have equaled. It is not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His expression, his manner, his very soul, seemed to vary, every fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner when he became a specialist in crime. It was a code of passing 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 laps were just being lightened as we paced up and down in front of Briney Lodge, waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' securant description, but the locally appeared to be less private than I expected. On the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighborhood, it was remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men smoking and laughing in a corner. A scissor grinder with his will, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse girl and several well-dressed young men, who were laughing up and down with cigars in their mouths. You see, from our homes as we passed to and fro in front of the house, this marriage rather simplifies matters. The photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Norton as our client, is to coming to the eyes of his princess. Now the question is, where are we to find the photograph, where indeed? It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is cabinet-sized, too large for easy consuming about a woman's dress. She knows that the king is capable of having her waylaid and searched. Two attempts of the sword have already been made. We may take it then that she does not carry it about with her. Where then? Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility, but I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, and they like to do their own secretly. Why should she have it over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardsmanship, but she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be brought to bear upon a businessman. Besides, remember that she had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house. But it has twice been burgled. Sure, they did not know how to look, but how will you look? I will not look. What then? I will get her to show me, but she will refuse. She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is her carriage, now carry out my orders to the letter. As he spoke, the gleam of the sidelights of a carriage came round the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landew which rattled up to the door of Brimey Lodge. As it pulled up, one of the loafings men at that 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 fair squirrel broke out, which was increased by the two godsmen who took sides with one of the longers, 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 center of a little law of flourish, and struggling men, who struck savagely at each other with their fist and sticks. Homes 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 fault, the guard- Feeling overwhelmed, struggling with mental health shouldn't be the norm. At Mindful Therapy Group, we specialize in connecting you with compassionate therapists that can support you through stress, anxiety, ADHD, and so much more. Within-person and telehealth appointments available, we can get you seen in as little as 48 hours. 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This man took their hills in one direction, and the longer's in the other, while a number of better dressed people who had watched the suffice without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady, and to attend to the injured man, Irene Adler, as I will still call her, had hurried up the steps, but she stood at the top with her superb figure, outlined against the lights of the hall looking back into the street. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "He is dead," cried several voices. "No, no, there's life in him," shouted another, "but he'll be gone before you can get him to hospital." "Here's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have got the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were gang, and a rough one too. Ah, he's breathing now. He can't lie here in the streets, may we bring him in, ma'am?" "Surely bring him into the sitting room. There's a comfortable sofa. This way, please." Slowly and solemnly, he was born into the Brimery Lodge, and laid into the Prince's principal room while I still observed the proceedings from my host. By the window the lamps had been lit, but the blinds had 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 kindness 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 smoked rocket from under my holster. After all, I thought we are not injuring her. We are but preventing her from injuring another. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him mention like a man who's in need of air, a maid rushed across the slave opened 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 "Fire!" The word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of spectators, well dressed and ill, gentlemen, holsters and servant maid, joined in the general shriek of "Fire!" With thick clouds of smoke curled through the room and out those open windows, I caught a glimpse of rushing fingers, 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 a choice to find my friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. He walks swiftly, and in silence, for some few minutes until we had turned down on one of the quiet streets which led towards the "Eguar Road." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked, "nothing could have been better, it is alright. You have the photograph? I know where it is, and how did you find out?" He showed me, as I told you she would, "I am still in the dark." "I do wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing, "the matter was perfectly simple. You are, of course, saw that everyone in the street wasn't accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." I guessed as much. And 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 "pitious spectacle." It is an old trick. That also I could fathom. Then 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. How did that help you? It was all important, when a woman thinks that her house is on fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing what 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 honest-worth castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby, and unmarried one reaches for her jewelry box. Now it was clear to me that our lady of today 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 the fire was admirally done. The smoke and shouting were enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The photograph is in a recuse behind a sliding panel, just above the right bell pole. 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 glancing 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 coachmen had come in, and as he was watching me narrowly, it seemed safer to wait. A little over precipitants may ruin all. And now, I asked, our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the king tomorrow, and with you, if you care to come with us, we will be showed 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. And when will you call, at 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. We had reached Baker Street and had stalked at the door. He was searching his pockets for the key, when someone passing said, "Good night, Mr. Sherlock Holmes." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an oyster who had hurried by. "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes. Stalking down the dimly lit street, now I wonder who the deuce that could have been. End of section two. In three 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. "You have really got it?" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by either shoulder or looking eagerly into his face, "No, not yet. But you have hopes?" "I have hopes. Then come. I am all impatient to be gone. We must have a cab." "No. My broad ham is waiting." And that will simplify matters. We descended and started off at once more for Brumbay Lodge. Irene Adler is married, remarked Holmes, "Married when?" Yesterday. But to whom, to an English lawyer named Norton, but she could not love him, I am in hopes that she does, and why in hopes? Because it would spare your majesty all fear of future annoyance. As delay to you loves her husband, she does not love your majesty. If she does not love your majesty, then there is no reason why she should interfere with your majesty's plan. It is true, and yet, well, I wish she had been of my own station, what a queen she would have made. He relapsed into a mood silent, which was not broken until we drew up in Serpentine Avenue. The door of Brumbay Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood up the steps. She watched us with a shardonic eye, as we stepped from the broad ham. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a questioning and rather startled gaze. "Indeed, my mistress told me that you were likely to call. She left this morning with her husband by the five-fifteen train from Charington Cross from the—for the continent." "What?" Sherlock Holmes staggered back with the charging and surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "Never to return." "And the papers," asked the king, Horsley, "all is lost. We shall see." 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 the dismantled shelves and open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before her flight. Holmes rushed at the bellpool, 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 superseded to Sherlock Holmes, E.S.Q., to be left till called for. My friend tore it open, and we all three read it together. It was dated midnight of the preceding night, and ran in this way. "My dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you really did it 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 to think evil of such a dear, kind old clergyman. But you know, I haven't been trained as an actress myself. Mel Kustoon is nothing new to me. I often take advantage of the freedom which it gives. I sent John the coachman to watch you, ran upstairs, got into my walking clothes, as I call them, and came down just as you departed. Well, 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 goodnight, and started for the temple, to see my husband. We thought the best resource was flight, when we pursued by so formidable and antagonist. So you will find the nest empty when you call tomorrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in peace. I love and am loved by a petraman than he. The king may do what he will without hindrance, from one who he has cruelly wrong. I can 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, Irene Norton, may Adler. "What a woman, oh, what a woman!" cried the king of Bohemia. When we had all three read this epistle, did 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? From what I have seen of the lady, she seems, indeed, to be on a very different level to you, Majesty," said Holmes, coldly. "I am sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business to a more successful conclusion." On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the king, "nothing could be more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire. I am glad to hear your Majesty say so. I am immensely indebted to you, pray, tell me, in what way I can reward you. This ring, he slipped an emerald snake reigned from his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. Your Majesty has something which I should value even more, highly," said Holmes. "You have but to name it—the photograph! The king stared at him in amazement. Irene's photograph," he cried, "certainly if you wish it. I think your Majesty, then there is no more to be done in the matter. I have the honour to wish you very good morning, he bowed and turned away without observing the hand, which the king had stretched out to him. He set off in my company for his chambers. 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 woman. 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 Woman." Experience the best in relaxation and entertainment with sogoodmedia.com. Our extensive library features hundreds of audiobooks, thousands of short stories, and popular sounds for sleep, meditation, and relaxation, all ad-free. Start your free 30-day trial today, and discover your new go-to for entertainment and relaxation. That's salgadmedia.com. S-O-L-G-O-O-D Media.com