“To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small unpleasantness. Do not join in it.It will end in my being conveyed into the house.Four or five minutes afterwards the sitting-room window will open.You are to station yourself close to that open window.”
“Yes.”
“You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you.”
“Yes.”
“And when I raise my hand—so—you will throw into the room what I give you to throw, and will,at the same time, raise the cry of fire. You quite follow me?”
“Entirely.”
“It is nothing very formidable,” he said, taking a long cigar-shaped roll from his pocket.“It is an ordinary plumber’s smoke-rocket,fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. Your task is confined to that.When you raise your cry of fire, it will be taken up by quite a number of people.You may then walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?”
“I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you,and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry of fire,and to wait you at the corner of the street.”
“Precisely.”
“Then you may entirely rely on me.”
“That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I prepare for the new role I have to play. ”
He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist clergyman.His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white tie, his sympathetic smile,and general look of peering and benevolent curiosity were such as Mr.John Hare alone could have equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume.His expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every fresh part that he assumed.The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in crime.
It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street,and it still wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in Serpentine Avenue.It was already dusk, and the lamps were just being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge,waiting for the coming of its occupant.The house was just such as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes’ succinct description,but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On the contrary,for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was remarkably animated.There was a group of shabbily dressed men smoking and laughing in a corner,a scissors-grinder with his wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl,and several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with cigars in their mouths.
“You see,” remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of the house,“this marriage rather simplifies matters. The photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now.The chances are that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Norton,as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the photograph?”
“Where, indeed?”
“It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is cabinet size.Too large for easy concealment about a woman’s dress.She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid and searched.Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We may take it, then,that she does not carry it about with her.”
“Where, then?”
“Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But I am inclined to think neither.Women are naturally secretive, and they like to do their own secreting.Why should she hand it over to anyone else?She could trust her own guardianship, but she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be brought to bear upon a business man.Besides, remember that she had resolved to use it within a few days.It must be where she can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house.”
“But it has twice been burgled.”
“Pshaw!They did not know how to look.”
“But how will you look?”
“I will not look.”
“What then?”
“I will get her to show me.”
“But she will refuse.”
“She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter.”
As he spoke the gleam of the 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.
“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.”
“He’s a brave fellow,” said a woman. “They 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.”
“He can’t lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?”
“Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable sofa. This way, please!”
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 intrusted 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.
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 “Fire!” The word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of spectators,well dressed and ill—gentlemen, ostlers, and servant maids—joined in a general shriek of “Fire!” 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 Edgeware Road.
“You did it very nicely, Doctor,” he remarked. “Nothing could have been better. It is all right.”
“You have the photograph?”
“I know where it is.”
“And how did you find out?”
“She showed me, as I told you she would.”
“I am still in the dark.”
“I do not wish to make a mystery,” said he, laughing. “The matter was perfectly simple. You,of course, saw that everyone in the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening.”
“I guessed as much.”
“Then, 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.”
“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 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;an 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.”
“And now?” I asked.
“Our 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.”
“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 stopped at the door.He was searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said:
“Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes.”
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.
“I’ve heard that voice before,” said Holmes, staring down the dimly lit street. “Now,I wonder who the deuce that could have been.”
III.
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 and looking eagerly into his face.
“Not yet.”
“But you have hopes?”
“I have hopes.”
“Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone.”
“We must have a cab.”
“No, my brougham is waiting.”
“Then that will simplify matters.” We descended and started off once more for Briony 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. 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.”
“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 moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in Serpentine Avenue.
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.
“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 5:15 train from Charing Cross for the Continent.”
“What!” Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and surprise. “Do you mean that she has left England?”
“Never to return.”
“And the papers?” asked the King hoarsely. “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 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 “Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for.” 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:
“MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,—You 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 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 good-night,and started for the Temple to see my husband.
“We 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,
“IRENE NORTON, _née_ 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 your 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 ring 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.”
“This photograph!”
The King stared at him in amazement.
“Irene’s photograph!” he cried. “Certainly, if you wish it.”
“I 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.” 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.
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_ woman.
II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE
I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,one day in the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a very stout,florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. With an apology for my intrusion,I was about to withdraw when Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me.
“You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Watson,” he said cordially.
“I was afraid that you were engaged.”
“So I am. Very much so.”
“Then I can wait in the next room.”
“Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson,has been my partner and helper in many of my most successful cases,and I have no doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also.”
The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of greeting,with a quick little questioning glance from his small fat-encircled eyes.
“Try the settee,” said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and putting his fingertips together,as was his custom when in judicial moods. “I know, my dear Watson,that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life.You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and,if you will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own little adventures.”
“Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me,” I observed.
“You will remember that I remarked the other day,just before we went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Sutherland,that for strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go to life itself,which is always far more daring than any effort of the imagination.”
“A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting.”
“You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my view,for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to be right.Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call upon me this morning,and to begin a narrative which promises to be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some time.You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique things are very often connected not with the larger but with the smaller crimes,and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for doubt whether any positive crime has been committed.As far as I have heard, it is impossible for me to say whether the present case is an instance of crime or not,but the course of events is certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to.Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to recommence your narrative.I ask you not merely because my friend Dr.Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every possible detail from your lips.As a rule, when I have heard some slight indication of the course of events,I am able to guide myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my memory.In the present instance I am forced to admit that the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique.”
The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance.
I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection.Our visitor bore every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, obese, pompous,and slow. He wore rather baggy grey shepherd’s check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat,unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert chain,and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as an ornament.A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him.Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing red head,and the expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his features.
Sherlock Holmes’ quick eye took in my occupation,and he shook his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances.“Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff,that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China,and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else.”
Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.
“How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Holmes?” he asked. “How did you know, for example, that I did manual labour. It’s as true as gospel, for I began as a ship’s carpenter.”
“Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger than your left.You have worked with it, and the muscles are more developed.”
“Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?”
“I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, especially as,rather against the strict rules of your order, you use an arc-and-compass breastpin.”
“Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?”
“What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for five inches,and the left one with the smooth patch near the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?”
“Well, but China?”
“The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right wrist could only have been done in China.I have made a small study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature of the subject.That trick of staining the fishes’ scales of a delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When,in addition, I see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter becomes even more simple.”
Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. “Well, I never!” said he. “I thought at first that you had done something clever,but I see that there was nothing in it after all.”
“I begin to think, Watson,” said Holmes, “that I make a mistake in explaining.‘_Omne ignotum pro magnifico_,’ you know, and my poor little reputation, such as it is,will suffer shipwreck if I am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?”
“Yes, I have got it now,” he answered with his thick red finger planted halfway down the column.“Here it is. This is what began it all. You just read it for yourself, sir.”
I took the paper from him and read as follows:
“TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon,Pennsylvania, U.S.A., there is now another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a salary of £ 4 a week for purely nominal services.All red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age of twenty-one years,are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at eleven o’clock, to Duncan Ross,at the offices of the League, 7 Pope’s Court, Fleet Street.”
“What on earth does this mean?” I ejaculated after I had twice read over the extraordinary announcement.
Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in high spirits.“It is a little off the beaten track, isn’t it?” said he. “And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us all about yourself,your household, and the effect which this advertisement had upon your fortunes.You will first make a note, Doctor, of the paper and the date.”
“It is _The Morning Chronicle_ of April 27, 1890. Just two months ago.”
“Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?”
“Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,” said Jabez Wilson,mopping his forehead; “I have a small pawnbroker’s business at Coburg Square, near the City.It’s not a very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than just give me a living.I used to be able to keep two assistants, but now I only keep one;and I would have a job to pay him but that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the business. ”
“What is the name of this obliging youth?” asked Sherlock Holmes.
“His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he’s not such a youth, either. It’s hard to say his age.I should not wish a smarter assistant, Mr. Holmes;and I know very well that he could better himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But,after all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?”
“Why, indeed?You seem most fortunate in having an _employé_ who comes under the full market price.It is not a common experience among employers in this age.I don’t know that your assistant is not as remarkable as your advertisement.”
“Oh, he has his faults, too,” said Mr. Wilson. “Never was such a fellow for photography.Snapping away with a camera when he ought to be improving his mind,and then diving down into the cellar like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures.That is his main fault, but on the whole he’s a good worker. There’s no vice in him.”
“He is still with you, I presume?”
“Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple cooking and keeps the place clean—that’s all I have in the house,for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very quietly, sir, the three of us;and we keep a roof over our heads and pay our debts, if we do nothing more.
“The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. Spaulding,he came down into the office just this day eight weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says:
“‘I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.’
“‘Why that?’ I asks.
“‘Why,’ says he, ‘here’s another vacancy on the League of the Red-headed Men.It’s worth quite a little fortune to any man who gets it,and I understand that there are more vacancies than there are men,so that the trustees are at their wits’ end what to do with the money.If my hair would only change colour, here’s a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.’
“‘Why, what is it, then?’ I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a very stay-at-home man,and as my business came to me instead of my having to go to it,I was often weeks on end without putting my foot over the door-mat.In that way I didn’t know much of what was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news.
“‘Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?’ he asked with his eyes open.
“‘Never.’
“‘Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one of the vacancies.’
“‘And what are they worth?’ I asked.
“‘Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight,and it need not interfere very much with one’s other occupations.’
“Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears,for the business has not been over good for some years,and an extra couple of hundred would have been very handy.
“‘Tell me all about it,’ said I.
“‘Well,’ said he, showing me the advertisement,‘you can see for yourself that the League has a vacancy,and there is the address where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out,the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins,who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself red-headed,and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; so, when he died,it was found that he had left his enormous fortune in the hands of trustees,with instructions to apply the interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of that colour.From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to do.’
“‘But,’ said I, ‘there would be millions of red-headed men who would apply.’
“‘Not so many as you might think,’ he answered. ‘You see it is really confined to Londoners,and to grown men. This American had started from London when he was young,and he wanted to do the old town a good turn. Then, again,I have heard it is no use your applying if your hair is light red, or dark red,or anything but real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. Wilson,you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a few hundred pounds. ’
“Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves,that my hair is of a very full and rich tint,so that it seemed to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met.Vincent Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might prove useful,so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the day and to come right away with me.He was very willing to have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for the address that was given us in the advertisement.