The Final Problem - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

<v Speaker 1>The final problem. It is with a heavy heart that
<v Speaker 1>I take up my pen to write these the last
<v Speaker 1>words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts
<v Speaker 1>by which my friend mister Sherlock Holmes was distinguished in
<v Speaker 1>an incoherent and, as I deeply feel, an entirely inadequate fashion.
<v Speaker 1>I have endeavored to give some account of my strange
<v Speaker 1>experiences in his company, from the chance which first brought
<v Speaker 1>us together at the period of the study in Scarlet,
<v Speaker 1>up to the time of his interference in the matter
<v Speaker 1>of the Naval Treaty, an interference which had the unquestionable
<v Speaker 1>effect of preventing a serious international complication. It was my
<v Speaker 1>intention to have stopped there and to have said nothing
<v Speaker 1>of that event, which has created a void in my
<v Speaker 1>life which the lapse of two years has done little
<v Speaker 1>to fill. My hand has been forced, however, by the
<v Speaker 1>recent letters in which Colonel James Moriarty defends the memory
<v Speaker 1>of his brother, no choice but to lay the facts
<v Speaker 1>before the public exactly as they occurred. I alone know
<v Speaker 1>the absolute truth of the matter, and I am satisfied
<v Speaker 1>that the time has come when no good purpose is
<v Speaker 1>to be served by its suppression. As far as I know,
<v Speaker 1>there have been only three accounts in the public press,
<v Speaker 1>that in the Jean Val de Geneve on May sixth,
<v Speaker 1>eighteen ninety one, the Reuter's Dispatch in the English papers
<v Speaker 1>on May seventh, and finally the recent letter to which
<v Speaker 1>I have alluded. Of these, the first and second were
<v Speaker 1>extremely condensed, while the last is, as I shall now show,
<v Speaker 1>an absolute perversion of the facts. It lies with me
<v Speaker 1>to tell for the first time what really took place
<v Speaker 1>between Professor Moriarty and mister Sherlock Holmes. It may be
<v Speaker 1>remembered that after my marriage and my subsequent start in
<v Speaker 1>private practice, the very intimate relations which had existed between
<v Speaker 1>Holmes and myself became, to some extent modified. He still
<v Speaker 1>came to me from time to time when he desired
<v Speaker 1>a companion in his investigation, but these occasions grew more
<v Speaker 1>and more seldom, until I found that in the year
<v Speaker 1>eighteen ninety there were only three cases of which I
<v Speaker 1>retain any record. During the winter of that year and
<v Speaker 1>the early spring of eighteen ninety one, I saw in
<v Speaker 1>the papers that he had been engaged by the French
<v Speaker 1>government upon a matter of supreme importance, and I received
<v Speaker 1>two notes from homes dated from Nalboonne and from Nim,
<v Speaker 1>from which I gathered that his stay in France was
<v Speaker 1>likely to be a long one. It was with some surprise, therefore,
<v Speaker 1>that I saw him walk into my consulting room upon
<v Speaker 1>the evening of April twenty fourth. It struck me that
<v Speaker 1>he was looking even paler and thinner than usual. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>I have been using myself up rather too freely, he remarked,
<v Speaker 1>in answer to my look, rather than to my words.
<v Speaker 1>I have been a little pressed of late. Have you
<v Speaker 1>any objection to my closing your shutters? The only light
<v Speaker 1>in the room came from the lamp upon the table
<v Speaker 1>at which I had been reading. Holmes edged his way
<v Speaker 1>round the wall, and, flinging the shutters together, he bolted
<v Speaker 1>them securely. You are afraid of something, I asked, well,
<v Speaker 1>I am of what of air guns? My dear Holmes,
<v Speaker 1>What do you mean? I think that you know me
<v Speaker 1>well enough Watson to understand that I am, by no
<v Speaker 1>means a nervous man. At the same time, it is stupidity,
<v Speaker 1>rather than courage, to refuse to recognize danger when it
<v Speaker 1>is close upon you. Might I trouble you for a match?
<v Speaker 1>He drew in the smoke of his cigarette, as if
<v Speaker 1>the soothing influence was grateful to him. I must apologize
<v Speaker 1>for calling so late, said he. And I must further
<v Speaker 1>beg you to be so unconventional as to allow me
<v Speaker 1>to leave your house presently by scrambling over your back
<v Speaker 1>garden wall. But what does it all mean? I asked.
<v Speaker 1>He held out his hand, and I saw in the
<v Speaker 1>light of the lamp that two of his knuckles were
<v Speaker 1>burst and bleeding. It is not an airy nothing, you see,
<v Speaker 1>said he, smiling. On the contrary, it is solid enough
<v Speaker 1>for a man to break his hand over is missus
<v Speaker 1>Watson in she is away upon a visit? Indeed, you
<v Speaker 1>are alone quite then it makes it easier for me
<v Speaker 1>to propose that you should come away with me for
<v Speaker 1>a week to the continent, where, oh anywhere. It's all
<v Speaker 1>the same to me. There was something very strange in
<v Speaker 1>all this. It was not Holmes's nature to take an
<v Speaker 1>aimless holiday, and something about his pale, worn face told
<v Speaker 1>me that his nerves were at their highest tension. He
<v Speaker 1>saw the question in my eyes, and, putting his finger
<v Speaker 1>tips together and his elbows upon his knees, he explained
<v Speaker 1>the situation. You have probably never heard of Professor Moriarty
<v Speaker 1>said he never Aye. There's the genius and the wonder
<v Speaker 1>of the thing, he cried. The man pervades London and
<v Speaker 1>no one has heard of him. That's what puts him
<v Speaker 1>on a pinnacle in the records of crime. I tell you, Watson,
<v Speaker 1>in all seriousness, that if I could beat that man,
<v Speaker 1>if I could free society of him, I should feel
<v Speaker 1>that my own career had reached its summit, and I
<v Speaker 1>should be prepared to turn to some more placid line
<v Speaker 1>in life between ourselves. The recent cases in which I
<v Speaker 1>have been of assistance to the Royal family of Scandinavia
<v Speaker 1>and to the French Republic have left me in such
<v Speaker 1>a position that I could continue to live in the
<v Speaker 1>quiet fashion which is most congenial to me, and to
<v Speaker 1>concentrate my attention upon my chemical researches. But I could
<v Speaker 1>not rest Watson. I could not sit quiet in my
<v Speaker 1>chair if I thought that such a man as Professor
<v Speaker 1>Moriarty were walking the streets of London unchallenged. What has
<v Speaker 1>he done? Then? His career has been an extraordinary one.
<v Speaker 1>He is a man of good birth and excellent education,
<v Speaker 1>endowed by nature with a phenomenal mathematical faculty. At the
<v Speaker 1>age of twenty one, he wrote a treatise upon the
<v Speaker 1>binomial theorem, which has had a European vogue. On the
<v Speaker 1>strength of it, he won the mathematical chair at one
<v Speaker 1>of our smaller universities, and had, to all appearances, a
<v Speaker 1>most brilliant career before him. But the man had hereditary
<v Speaker 1>tendencies of the most diabolical kind. A criminal strain ran
<v Speaker 1>in his blood, which, instead of being modified, was increased
<v Speaker 1>and rendered infinitely more dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers.
<v Speaker 1>Dark rumors gathered round him in the university town, and
<v Speaker 1>eventually he was compelled to resign his chair and to
<v Speaker 1>come down to London, where he set up as an
<v Speaker 1>army coach. So much is known to the world, but
<v Speaker 1>what I am telling you now is what I have
<v Speaker 1>myself discovered. As you are aware, Watson, there is no
<v Speaker 1>one who knows the higher criminal world of London so
<v Speaker 1>well as I do. For years past, I have continually
<v Speaker 1>been conscious of some power behind the malefactor, some deep
<v Speaker 1>organizing power which forever stands in the way of the
<v Speaker 1>law and throws its shield over the wrong doer again
<v Speaker 1>and again. In cases of the most varying sorts forgery cases, robberies, murders.
<v Speaker 1>I have felt the presence of this force, and I
<v Speaker 1>have deduced its action in many of those undiscovered crimes
<v Speaker 1>in which I have not been personally consulted. For years,
<v Speaker 1>I have endeavored to break through the veil which shrouded it.
<v Speaker 1>And at last the time came when I see my
<v Speaker 1>thread and followed it until it led me after a
<v Speaker 1>thousand cunning windings to ex Professor Moriarty of mathematical celebrity,
<v Speaker 1>he is the Napoleon of crime Watson. He is the
<v Speaker 1>organizer of half that is evil and nearly all that
<v Speaker 1>is undetected in this great city. He is a genius,
<v Speaker 1>a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of
<v Speaker 1>the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in
<v Speaker 1>the center of its web. But that web has a
<v Speaker 1>thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each
<v Speaker 1>of them. He does little himself, He only plans, but
<v Speaker 1>his agents are numerous and splendidly organized. Is there a
<v Speaker 1>crime to be done, a paper to be abstracted, we
<v Speaker 1>will say, a house to be rifled, a man to
<v Speaker 1>be removed? The word is pasted to the Professor. The
<v Speaker 1>matter is organized and carried out. The agent may be caught.
<v Speaker 1>In that case money is found for his bail or
<v Speaker 1>his defense, but the central power which uses the agent
<v Speaker 1>is never caught, never so much as suspected. This was
<v Speaker 1>the organization which I deduced, Watson, and which I devoted
<v Speaker 1>my whole energy to exposing and breaking up. But the
<v Speaker 1>Professor was fenced around with safeguards so cunningly devised that
<v Speaker 1>do what I would, it seemed impossible to get evidence
<v Speaker 1>which would convict in a court of law. You know
<v Speaker 1>my powers, my dear Watson. And yet at the end
<v Speaker 1>of three months I was forced to confess that I
<v Speaker 1>had at last met an antagonist who was my intellectual equal.
<v Speaker 1>My horror at his crimes was lost in my admiration
<v Speaker 1>at his skill. But at last he made a trip,
<v Speaker 1>only a little little trip, but it was more than
<v Speaker 1>he could afford. When I was so close upon him,
<v Speaker 1>I had my chance, And starting from that point I
<v Speaker 1>have woven my net around him, until now it is
<v Speaker 1>all ready to close. In three days, that is to say,
<v Speaker 1>on Monday, next matters will be ripe, and the Professor,
<v Speaker 1>with all the principal members of his gang will be
<v Speaker 1>in the hands of the police. Then will come the
<v Speaker 1>greatest criminal trial of the century, the clearing up of
<v Speaker 1>over forty mysteries, and the rope for all of them.
<v Speaker 1>But if we move at all prematurely, you understand, they
<v Speaker 1>may slip out of our hands, even at the last moment. Now,
<v Speaker 1>if I could have done this without the knowledge of
<v Speaker 1>Professor Moriarty, all would have been well. But he was
<v Speaker 1>too wily for that. He saw every step which I
<v Speaker 1>took to draw my toils round him. Again and again
<v Speaker 1>he strove to break away, but I as often headed
<v Speaker 1>him off. I tell you, my friend, that if a
<v Speaker 1>detailed account of that silent contest could be written, it
<v Speaker 1>would take its place as the most brilliant bit of
<v Speaker 1>thrust and parry work in the history of detection. Never
<v Speaker 1>have I risen to such a height, and never have
<v Speaker 1>I been so hard pressed by an opponent. He cut deep,
<v Speaker 1>and yet I just undercut him. This morning, the last
<v Speaker 1>steps were taken, and three days only were wanted to
<v Speaker 1>complete the business. I was sitting in my room, thinking
<v Speaker 1>the matter over, when the door opened and Professor Moriarty
<v Speaker 1>stood before me. My nerves are fairly proof, Watson, but
<v Speaker 1>I must confess to a start. When I saw the
<v Speaker 1>very man who's been so much in my thoughts standing
<v Speaker 1>there on my threshold, his appearance was quite familiar to me.
<v Speaker 1>He is extremely tall and thin. His forehead domes out
<v Speaker 1>in a white curve, and his two eyes are deeply
<v Speaker 1>sunken in his head. He's clean shaven, pale, and acetic looking,
<v Speaker 1>retaining something of the professor in his feature. His shoulders
<v Speaker 1>around it from much study, and his face protrudes forward
<v Speaker 1>and is forever slowly oscillating from side to side in
<v Speaker 1>a curiously reptilian fashion. He peered at me with great
<v Speaker 1>curiosity in his puckered eyes. You have less frontal development
<v Speaker 1>than I should have expected, said he at last. It
<v Speaker 1>is a dangerous habit to finger loaded firearms in the
<v Speaker 1>pocket of one's dressing gown. The fact is that upon
<v Speaker 1>his entrance I had instantly recognized the extreme personal danger
<v Speaker 1>in which I lay. The only conceivable escape for him
<v Speaker 1>lay in silencing my tongue. In an instant I had
<v Speaker 1>slipped the revolver from the drawer into my pocket and
<v Speaker 1>was covering him through the cloth. At this remark, I
<v Speaker 1>drew the weapon out and laid it cocked upon the table.
<v Speaker 1>He still smiled and blinked, but there was something about
<v Speaker 1>his eyes which made me feel very glad that I
<v Speaker 1>had it there. You evidently don't know me, said he.
<v Speaker 1>On the contrary, I answered, I think it is fairly
<v Speaker 1>evident that I do pray. Take a chair. I can
<v Speaker 1>spare you five minutes if you have anything to say.
<v Speaker 1>All that I have to say has already crossed your mind,
<v Speaker 1>said he. Then, possibly my answer has crossed yours, I replied,
<v Speaker 1>you stand fast. Absolutely. He clapped his hand into his pocket,
<v Speaker 1>and I raised the pistol from the table. But he
<v Speaker 1>merely drew out a memorandum book in which she had
<v Speaker 1>scribbled some dates. You crossed my path on the fourth
<v Speaker 1>of January, said he. On the twenty third, you incommoded me.
<v Speaker 1>By the middle of February, I was seriously inconvenienced by you.
<v Speaker 1>At the end of March I was absolutely hampered in
<v Speaker 1>my plans. And now at the c of April, I
<v Speaker 1>find myself placed in such a position through your continual persecution,
<v Speaker 1>that I am in positive danger of losing my liberty.
<v Speaker 1>The situation is becoming an impossible one. Have you any
<v Speaker 1>suggestion to make I asked, you must drop it, mister Holmes,
<v Speaker 1>said he, swaying his face about you really must you
<v Speaker 1>know after Monday, said I. Tut tut, said he. I
<v Speaker 1>am quite sure that a man of your intelligence will
<v Speaker 1>see that there can be but one outcome to this affair.
<v Speaker 1>It is necessary that you should withdraw. You have worked
<v Speaker 1>things in such a fashion that we have only one
<v Speaker 1>resource left. It has been an intellectual treat to me
<v Speaker 1>to see the way in which you have grappled with
<v Speaker 1>this affair. And I say, unaffectedly that it would be
<v Speaker 1>a grief to me to be forced to take any
<v Speaker 1>extreme measure. You smile, sir, but I assure you that
<v Speaker 1>it really would. Danger is part of my trade. I remarked.
<v Speaker 1>That is not danger, said he, It is inevitable destruction.
<v Speaker 1>You stand in the way, not merely of an individual,
<v Speaker 1>but of a mighty organization, the full extent of which you,
<v Speaker 1>with all your cleverness, have been unable to realize. You
<v Speaker 1>must stand clear, mister Holmes, or be trodden under foot.
<v Speaker 1>I am afraid, said I, rising, as in the pleasure
<v Speaker 1>of this conversation, I am neglecting business of importance which
<v Speaker 1>awaits me elsewhere. He rose also and looked at me
<v Speaker 1>in silence, shaking his head sadly. Well well, said he
<v Speaker 1>at last. It seems a pity, But I have done
<v Speaker 1>what I could. I know every move of your game.
<v Speaker 1>You can do nothing before Monday. It has been a
<v Speaker 1>duel between you and me. Mister Holmes. You hope to
<v Speaker 1>place me in the dock. I tell you that I
<v Speaker 1>will never stand in the dock. You hope to beat me.
<v Speaker 1>I tell you that you will never beat me. If
<v Speaker 1>you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me. Rest
<v Speaker 1>assured that I shall do as much to you. You
<v Speaker 1>have paid me several compliments, mister Moriarty, said, I let
<v Speaker 1>me pay you one in return. When I say that,
<v Speaker 1>if I were assured of the former eventuality, I would,
<v Speaker 1>in the interests of the public, cheerfully accept the latter.
<v Speaker 1>I can promise you the one, but not the other.
<v Speaker 1>He snarled, and so turned his rounded back upon me
<v Speaker 1>and went peering and blinking out of the room. That
<v Speaker 1>was my singular interview with Professor Moriarty. I confess that
<v Speaker 1>it left an unpleasant effect upon my mind. His soft,
<v Speaker 1>precise fashion of speech leaves a conviction of sincerity which
<v Speaker 1>a mere bully could not produce. Of course, you will
<v Speaker 1>say why not take police precautions against him? The reason
<v Speaker 1>is that I am well convinced that it is from
<v Speaker 1>his agents the blow will fall. I have the best
<v Speaker 1>proofs that it would be, so you've already been assaulted,
<v Speaker 1>my dear Watson. Professor Moriarty is not a man who
<v Speaker 1>lets the grass grow under his feet. I went out
<v Speaker 1>about midday to transact some business in Oxford Street. As
<v Speaker 1>I passed the corner which leads from Bentinck Street on
<v Speaker 1>to the Welbeck Street crossing, a two horse van furiously driven,
<v Speaker 1>whizzed round and was on me like a flash. I
<v Speaker 1>sprang for the footpath and saved myself by the fraction
<v Speaker 1>of a second. The van dashed round by Marlburne Lay
<v Speaker 1>and was gone in an instant. I kept the pavement
<v Speaker 1>after that, Watson, But as I walked down Via Street,
<v Speaker 1>a brick came down from the roof of one of
<v Speaker 1>the houses and was shattered to fragments at my feet.
<v Speaker 1>I called the police and had the place examined. There
<v Speaker 1>were slates and bricks piled up on the roof preparatory
<v Speaker 1>to some repairs, and they would of me believe that
<v Speaker 1>the wind had toppled over one of these. Of course
<v Speaker 1>I knew better, but I could prove nothing. I took
<v Speaker 1>a cab after that and reached my brother's rooms in
<v Speaker 1>Pall Mall, where I spent the day. Now I have
<v Speaker 1>come round to you, and on my way I was
<v Speaker 1>attacked by a ruff with a bludgeon. I knocked him down,
<v Speaker 1>and the police have him in custody. But I can
<v Speaker 1>tell you with the most absolute confidence that no possible
<v Speaker 1>connection will ever be traced between the gentlemen upon whose
<v Speaker 1>front teeth I have barked my knuckles, and the retiring
<v Speaker 1>mathematical coach who is I dare say, working out problems
<v Speaker 1>upon a blackboard ten miles away. You will not wonder, Watson,
<v Speaker 1>that my first act on entering your rooms was to
<v Speaker 1>close your shutters, and that I have been compelled to
<v Speaker 1>ask your permission to leave the house by some less
<v Speaker 1>conspicuous exit than the front door. I had often admired
<v Speaker 1>my friend's courage, but never more than now, as he
<v Speaker 1>sat quietly checking off a series of incidents which must
<v Speaker 1>have combined to make up a day of horror. You
<v Speaker 1>will spend the night here, I said, no, My friend,
<v Speaker 1>you might find me a dangerous guest. I have my
<v Speaker 1>plans laid, and all will be well. Matters have gone
<v Speaker 1>so far now that they can move without my help
<v Speaker 1>as far as the arrest goes. Though my presence is
<v Speaker 1>necessary for a conviction. It is obvious therefore that I
<v Speaker 1>cannot do better than get away for the few days
<v Speaker 1>which remain before the police are at liberty to act.
<v Speaker 1>It would be a great pleasure to me. Therefore, if
<v Speaker 1>you would come on to the continent with me. The
<v Speaker 1>practice is quiet, said I, and I have an accommodating neighbor.
<v Speaker 1>I shall be glad to come and to start to
<v Speaker 1>morrow morning if necessary. Oh, yes, it is most necessary.
<v Speaker 1>Then these are your instructions, and I beg my dear Watson,
<v Speaker 1>that you will obey them to the letter, for you
<v Speaker 1>are now playing a double handed game with me against
<v Speaker 1>the cleverest rogue and the most powerful syndicate of criminals
<v Speaker 1>in Europe. Now listen, you will despatch whatever luggage you
<v Speaker 1>intend to take by a trusty messenger unaddressed to Victoria
<v Speaker 1>to night. In the morning you will send for a hansom,
<v Speaker 1>desiring your man to take neither the first nor the second,
<v Speaker 1>which may present itself into this hansom. You will jump,
<v Speaker 1>and you will drive to the strand end of the
<v Speaker 1>louther arcade, handing the addressed the cabman upon a slip
<v Speaker 1>of paper, with a request that you will not throw
<v Speaker 1>it away, have your fare ready, and the instant that
<v Speaker 1>your cab stops. Dashed through the arcade, timing yourself to
<v Speaker 1>reach the other side. At a quarter past nine, you
<v Speaker 1>will find a small brougham waiting close to the curb,
<v Speaker 1>driven by a fellow with a heavy black cloak tipped
<v Speaker 1>at the collar with red. Into this you will step,
<v Speaker 1>and you will reach Victoria in time for the Continental Express.
<v Speaker 1>Where shall I meet you at the station? The second
<v Speaker 1>first class carriage from the front will be reserved for us.
<v Speaker 1>The carriage is our rendezvous. Then, yes, it was in
<v Speaker 1>vain that I asked Holmes to remain for the evening.
<v Speaker 1>It was evident to me that he thought he might
<v Speaker 1>bring trouble to the roof he was under, and that
<v Speaker 1>that was the motive which impelled him to go. With
<v Speaker 1>a few hurried words as to our plans for the morrow,
<v Speaker 1>he rose and came came out with me into the garden,
<v Speaker 1>clambering over the wall which leads into Mortimer Street and
<v Speaker 1>immediately whistling for a hansom, in which I heard him
<v Speaker 1>drive away. In the morning. I obeyed Holmes's injunction to
<v Speaker 1>the letter, a hansom was procured with such precaution as
<v Speaker 1>would prevent its being one which was placed ready for us,
<v Speaker 1>and I drove immediately after breakfast to the louther arcade,
<v Speaker 1>through which I hurried at the top of my speed.
<v Speaker 1>Abruugham was waiting with a very massive driver wrapped in
<v Speaker 1>a dark cloak, who the instant that I had stepped in,
<v Speaker 1>whipped up the horse and rattled off to Victoria station.
<v Speaker 1>On my alighting there, he turned the carriage and dashed
<v Speaker 1>away again without so much as a look in my direction.
<v Speaker 1>So far all had gone admirably. My luggage was waiting
<v Speaker 1>for me, and I had no difficulty in finding the
<v Speaker 1>carriage which Holmes had indicated, the less so as it
<v Speaker 1>was the only one in the train which was my engaged.
<v Speaker 1>My only source of anxiety now was the non appearance
<v Speaker 1>of homes. The station clock marked only seven minutes from
<v Speaker 1>the time when we were due to start in Vain.
<v Speaker 1>I searched among the groups of travelers and leave takers
<v Speaker 1>for the lithe figure of my friend, there was no
<v Speaker 1>sign of him. I spent a few minutes in assisting
<v Speaker 1>a venerable Italian priest who was endeavoring to make a
<v Speaker 1>porter understand in his broken English that his luggage was
<v Speaker 1>to be booked through to Paris. Then, having taken another
<v Speaker 1>look around, I returned to my carriage, where I found
<v Speaker 1>that the porter, in spite of the ticket, had given
<v Speaker 1>me my decrepit Italian friend as a traveling companion. It
<v Speaker 1>was useless for me to explain to him that his
<v Speaker 1>presence was an intrusion, for my Italian was even more
<v Speaker 1>limited than his English. So I shrugged my shoulders resignedly,
<v Speaker 1>and continued to look out anxiously for my friend. A
<v Speaker 1>chill of fear had come over me, as I thought
<v Speaker 1>that his absence might mean that some blow had fallen
<v Speaker 1>during the night. Already the doors had all been shut
<v Speaker 1>and the whistle blown. When my dear Watson said a
<v Speaker 1>voice you have not even condescended to say good morning.
<v Speaker 1>I turned in uncontrollable astonishment. The aged ecclesiastic had turned
<v Speaker 1>his face towards me for an instant. The wrinkles were
<v Speaker 1>smoothed away, the nose drew away from the chin. The
<v Speaker 1>lower lips ceased to protrude, and the mouth to mumble.
<v Speaker 1>The dull eyes regained their fire. The drooping figure expanded.
<v Speaker 1>The next the whole frame collapsed again, and Holmes had
<v Speaker 1>gone as quickly as he had come. Good Heavens, I cried,
<v Speaker 1>how you startle me? Every precaution is still necessary, he whispered.
<v Speaker 1>I have reason and to think that they are hot
<v Speaker 1>upon our trail. Ah, there is Moriarty himself. The train
<v Speaker 1>had already begun to move as Holmes spoke. Glancing back,
<v Speaker 1>I saw a tall man pushing his way furiously through
<v Speaker 1>the crowd, and waving his hand as if he desired
<v Speaker 1>to have the train stopped. It was too late, however,
<v Speaker 1>for we were rapidly gathering momentum, and an instant later
<v Speaker 1>had shot clear of the station. With all our precautions.
<v Speaker 1>You see that we have cut it rather fine, said Holmes, laughing.
<v Speaker 1>He rose, and throwing off the black cassock and hat
<v Speaker 1>which had formed his disguise, he packed them away in
<v Speaker 1>a hand bag. Have you seen the morning paper, Watson? No,
<v Speaker 1>you haven't seen about Baker Street. Then Baker Street. They
<v Speaker 1>set fire to our rooms last night. No great harm
<v Speaker 1>was done. Good Heavens Holmes. This is intolerable. They must
<v Speaker 1>have lost my track completely after their bludgeon man was arrested.
<v Speaker 1>Otherwise they could not have imagined that I had returned
<v Speaker 1>to my rooms. They have evidently taken the precaution of
<v Speaker 1>watching you, however, and that is what has brought Moriarty
<v Speaker 1>to Victoria. You could not have made any slip in coming.
<v Speaker 1>I did exactly what you advised. Did you find your Brupham, Yes,
<v Speaker 1>it was waiting. Did you recognize your coachman, No, it
<v Speaker 1>was my brother Microft. It is an advantage to get
<v Speaker 1>about in such a case without taking a mercenary into
<v Speaker 1>your confidence. But we must plan what we are to
<v Speaker 1>do about Moriarty. Now. As this is an express and
<v Speaker 1>as the boat runs in connection with it, I should
<v Speaker 1>think we've shaken him off very effectively. My dear Watson,
<v Speaker 1>you evidently did not realize my meaning when I said
<v Speaker 1>that this man may be taken as being quite on
<v Speaker 1>the same intellectual place as myself. You do not imagine
<v Speaker 1>that if I were the pursuer, I should allow myself
<v Speaker 1>to be baffled by so slight an obstacle. Why then,
<v Speaker 1>should you think so meanly of him? What will he
<v Speaker 1>do what I should do? What would you do? Then?
<v Speaker 1>Engage a special But it must be late by no means.
<v Speaker 1>This train stops at Canterbury, and there is always at
<v Speaker 1>least a quarter of an hour's delay at the boat.
<v Speaker 1>He will catch us there. One would think that we
<v Speaker 1>were the criminals. Let us have him arrested on his arrival.
<v Speaker 1>It would be to ruin the work of three months.
<v Speaker 1>We should get the big fish, but the smaller would
<v Speaker 1>dart right and left out of the net on Monday.
<v Speaker 1>We should have them all. Nope, an arrest is inadmissible.
<v Speaker 1>What then we shall get out at Canterbury. And then well,
<v Speaker 1>then we must make a cross country journey to new
<v Speaker 1>Haven and so over to Dieppe. Moriarty will again do
<v Speaker 1>what I should do. He will get on to Paris,
<v Speaker 1>mark down our luggage and wait for two days at
<v Speaker 1>the depot. In the meantime, we shall treat ourselves to
<v Speaker 1>a couple of carpet bags, encourage the manufacturers of the
<v Speaker 1>countries through which we travel, and make our way at
<v Speaker 1>our leisure into Switzerland via Luxembourg and Basel. At Canterbury. Therefore,
<v Speaker 1>we alighted, only to find that we should have to
<v Speaker 1>wait an hour before we could get a train to
<v Speaker 1>New Haven. I was still looking rather ruefully after the
<v Speaker 1>rapidly disappearing luggage van which contained my wardrobe, when Holmes
<v Speaker 1>pulled my sleeve and pointed up the line. Already, you see,
<v Speaker 1>said he. Far away from among the Kentish woods, there
<v Speaker 1>rose a thin spray of smoke. A minute later a
<v Speaker 1>carriage and engine could be seen flying along the open
<v Speaker 1>curve which leads to the station. We had hardly time
<v Speaker 1>to take our place behind a pile of luggage when
<v Speaker 1>it passed with a rattle and a roar, beating a
<v Speaker 1>blast of hot air into our faces. There he goes,
<v Speaker 1>said Holmes, as we watched the carriage swing and rock
<v Speaker 1>over the points. There are limits, you see, to our
<v Speaker 1>friend's intelligence. It would have been a kurummehtre had he
<v Speaker 1>deduced what I would deduce and acted accordingly. And what
<v Speaker 1>would he have done had he overtaken us? There cannot
<v Speaker 1>be the least doubt that he would have made a
<v Speaker 1>murderous attack upon me. It is, however, a game at
<v Speaker 1>which two may play. The question now is whether we
<v Speaker 1>should take a premature lunch here or run our chance
<v Speaker 1>of starving. Before we reached the buffet at new Haven,
<v Speaker 1>we made our way to Brussels that night and spent
<v Speaker 1>two days there, moving on upon the third day as
<v Speaker 1>far as Strasbourg. On the Monday morning. Holmes had telegraphed
<v Speaker 1>to the London police, and in the evening we found
<v Speaker 1>a reply waiting for us at our hotel. Holmes tore
<v Speaker 1>it open and then, with a bitter curse, hurled it
<v Speaker 1>into the grate. I might have known it, he groaned.
<v Speaker 1>He has escaped Moriarty. They have secured the whole gang,
<v Speaker 1>with the exception of him. He has given them the slip.
<v Speaker 1>Of course, when I had left the country there was
<v Speaker 1>no one to cope with him. But I did think
<v Speaker 1>that I had put the game in their hands. I
<v Speaker 1>think that you had better return to England, Watson. Why
<v Speaker 1>because you will find me a dangerous companion. Now this
<v Speaker 1>man's occupation is gone. He is lost if he returns
<v Speaker 1>to London. If I read his character right, he will
<v Speaker 1>devote his whole energies to revenging himself upon me. He
<v Speaker 1>said as much in our short interview, and I fancy
<v Speaker 1>that he meant it. I should certainly recommend you to
<v Speaker 1>return to your practice. It was hardly an appeal to
<v Speaker 1>be successful with one who was an old campaigner as
<v Speaker 1>well as an old friend. We sat in the Strasbourg
<v Speaker 1>Sala Manges arguing the question for half an hour. But
<v Speaker 1>the same night we had resumed our journey and were
<v Speaker 1>well on our way to Geneva for a charming week.
<v Speaker 1>We wandered up the valley of the Rhone, and then
<v Speaker 1>branching off at Luke, we made our way over the
<v Speaker 1>Gemmy Pass, still deep in snow, and so by way
<v Speaker 1>of Interlaken to Meyringen. It was a lovely trip, the
<v Speaker 1>dainty green of the spring below, the virgin white of
<v Speaker 1>the winter above. But it was clear to me that
<v Speaker 1>never for one instant did Holmes forget the shadow which
<v Speaker 1>lay across him in the homely alpine villages or in
<v Speaker 1>the lonely mountain passes. I could tell, by his quick
<v Speaker 1>glancing eyes and his sharp scrutiny of every face that
<v Speaker 1>passed us, that he was well convinced that walk where
<v Speaker 1>we would, we could not walk ourselves clear of the
<v Speaker 1>danger which was dogging our footsteps. Once I remember, as
<v Speaker 1>we passed over the Gemmi and walked along the border
<v Speaker 1>of the melancholy Daubensee. A large rock which had been
<v Speaker 1>dislodged from the ridge upon our right, clattered down and
<v Speaker 1>roared into the lake behind us. In an instant, Holmes
<v Speaker 1>had raced up on to the ridge, and, standing upon
<v Speaker 1>a lofty pinnacle, craned his neck in every direction. It
<v Speaker 1>was in vain that our guide assured him that a
<v Speaker 1>fall of stones was a common chance in the springtime
<v Speaker 1>at that spot. He said nothing, but he smiled at
<v Speaker 1>me with the air of a man who sees the
<v Speaker 1>fulfillment of that which he had expected. And yet for
<v Speaker 1>all his watchfulness, he was never depressed. On the contrary,
<v Speaker 1>I could never recollect having seen him in such exuberant spirits.
<v Speaker 1>Again and again he recurred to the fact that if
<v Speaker 1>he could be assured that society was freed from Professor Moriarty,
<v Speaker 1>he would cheerfully bring his own career to a conclusion.
<v Speaker 1>I think that I may go as far as to say, Watson,
<v Speaker 1>that I have not lived wholly in vain. He remarked.
<v Speaker 1>If my record were closed to night, I could still
<v Speaker 1>survey it with equanimity. The air of London is the
<v Speaker 1>sweeter for my presence in over a thousand cases. I
<v Speaker 1>am not aware that I have ever used my powers
<v Speaker 1>upon the wrong side of late. I have been tempted
<v Speaker 1>to look into the problems furnished by nature rather than
<v Speaker 1>those more superficial ones for which our artificial state of
<v Speaker 1>society is responsible. Your memoirs will draw to an end, Watson,
<v Speaker 1>upon the day that I crown my career by the
<v Speaker 1>capture or extinction of the most dangerous and capable criminal
<v Speaker 1>in Europe. And I shall be brief and yet exact
<v Speaker 1>in the little which remains for me to tell. It
<v Speaker 1>is not a subject on which I would willingly dwell,
<v Speaker 1>and yet I am conscious that a duty devolves upon
<v Speaker 1>me to omit no detail. It was on the third
<v Speaker 1>of May that we reached the little village of Meyringen,
<v Speaker 1>where we put up at the englisher Hoof, then kept
<v Speaker 1>by Peter Steiler, the elder. Our landlord was an intelligent
<v Speaker 1>man and spoke excellent English, having served for three years
<v Speaker 1>as waiter at the Grosvenor Hotel in London. At his advice,
<v Speaker 1>on the afternoon of the fourth we set off together
<v Speaker 1>with the intention of crossing the hills and spending the
<v Speaker 1>night at the hamlet of Rosenlauis. We had strict injunctions, However,
<v Speaker 1>on no account to pass the falls of Reichenbach, which
<v Speaker 1>are about half way up the hill, without making a
<v Speaker 1>small detour to see them. It is indeed a fearful place.
<v Speaker 1>The torrent, swollen by the melting snow, plunges into a
<v Speaker 1>tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up like the
<v Speaker 1>smoke from a burning house. The shaft into which the
<v Speaker 1>river hurls itself is an immense chasm, lined by glistening
<v Speaker 1>coal black rock, and narrowing into a creaming, boiling pit
<v Speaker 1>of incalculable depth, which brims over and shoots the stream
<v Speaker 1>onward over its jagged lip. The long sweep of green
<v Speaker 1>water roaring forever down, and the thick, flickering curtain of
<v Speaker 1>spray hissing forever upward, turn a man giddy with their
<v Speaker 1>constant whirl and clamor We stood near the edge, peering
<v Speaker 1>down at the gleam of the breaking water far below us,
<v Speaker 1>against the black rocks, and listening to the half human
<v Speaker 1>shout which came booming up with the spray out of
<v Speaker 1>the abyss. The path has been cut half way round
<v Speaker 1>the fall to afford a complete view, but it ends
<v Speaker 1>abruptly and the traveler has to return as he came.
<v Speaker 1>We had turned to do so when we saw a
<v Speaker 1>Swiss lad come running along it with a letter in
<v Speaker 1>his hand. It bore the mark of the hotel which
<v Speaker 1>we had just left, and was addressed to me by
<v Speaker 1>the landlord. It appeared that within a very few minutes
<v Speaker 1>of our leaving, an English lady had arrived, who was
<v Speaker 1>in the last stage of consumption. She had wintered at
<v Speaker 1>Davos Platz and was journeying now to join her friends
<v Speaker 1>at Lucerne. When a sudden hemorrhage had overtaken her. It
<v Speaker 1>was thought that she could hardly live a few hours,
<v Speaker 1>but it would be a great consolation to her to
<v Speaker 1>see an English doctor, and if I would only return,
<v Speaker 1>et cetera. The good Stuyler assured me in a PostScript
<v Speaker 1>that he would himself look upon my compliance as a
<v Speaker 1>very great favor. Since the lady absolutely refused to see
<v Speaker 1>a Swiss physician, and he could not but feel that
<v Speaker 1>he was incurring a great responsibility, the appeal was one
<v Speaker 1>which could not be ignored. It was impossible to refuse
<v Speaker 1>the request of a fellow country woman dying in a
<v Speaker 1>strange land. Yet I had my scruples about leaving homes.
<v Speaker 1>It was finally agreed, however, that he should retain the
<v Speaker 1>young Swiss messenger with him as guide and companion while
<v Speaker 1>I returned to Meydringen. My friend would stay some little
<v Speaker 1>time at the fall, he said, and would then walk
<v Speaker 1>slowly over the hill to Rosenlowey, where I was to
<v Speaker 1>rejoin him in the evening. As I turned away, I
<v Speaker 1>saw Holmes with his back against a rock and his
<v Speaker 1>arms folded, gazing down at the rush of the waters.
<v Speaker 1>It was the last that I was ever destined to
<v Speaker 1>see of him in this world. When I was near
<v Speaker 1>the bottom of the descent, I looked back. It was
<v Speaker 1>impossible from that position to see the fall, but I
<v Speaker 1>could see the curving path which winds over the shoulder
<v Speaker 1>of the hill and lead to it. Along this a
<v Speaker 1>man was, I remember, walking very rapidly. I could see
<v Speaker 1>this black figure clearly outlined against the green behind him.
<v Speaker 1>I noted him and the energy with which he walked,
<v Speaker 1>but he passed from my mind again as I hurried
<v Speaker 1>on upon my errand it may have been a little
<v Speaker 1>over an hour before I reached myringhen Old Stuyler was
<v Speaker 1>standing at the porch of his hotel. Well, said I,
<v Speaker 1>as I came hurrying up, I trust that she is
<v Speaker 1>no worse. A luck of surprise passed over his face,
<v Speaker 1>and at the first quiver of his eyebrows, my heart
<v Speaker 1>turned to lead in my breast. You did not write this,
<v Speaker 1>I said, pulling the letter from my pocket. There is
<v Speaker 1>no sick englishwoman in the hotel. Certainly not, he cried.
<v Speaker 1>But it has the hotel mark upon it. Ha. It
<v Speaker 1>must have been written by that tall Englishman who came
<v Speaker 1>in after you had gone, he said. But I waited
<v Speaker 1>for none of the landlord's explanations. In a tingle of fear,
<v Speaker 1>I was already running down the village street and making
<v Speaker 1>for the path which I had so lately descended. It
<v Speaker 1>had taken me an hour to come down. For all
<v Speaker 1>my efforts, two more had passed before I found myself
<v Speaker 1>at the fall of Reichenbach. Once more. There was Holme's
<v Speaker 1>alpine stock, still leaning against the rock by which I
<v Speaker 1>had left him. But there was no sign of him,
<v Speaker 1>and it was in vain that I shouted. My only
<v Speaker 1>answer was my own voice. Reverberating in a rolling echo
<v Speaker 1>from the cliffs around me. It was the sight of
<v Speaker 1>that alpine stock which turned me cold and sick. He
<v Speaker 1>had not gone to rosen Lowy. Then he had remained
<v Speaker 1>on that three foot path, with sheer wall on one
<v Speaker 1>side and sheer drop on the other, until his enemy
<v Speaker 1>had overtaken him. The young Swiss had gone too. He
<v Speaker 1>had probably been in the pay of Moriarty, and had
<v Speaker 1>left the two men together. And then what had happened?
<v Speaker 1>Who was to tell us what had happened? Then I
<v Speaker 1>stood for a moment or two to collect myself, for
<v Speaker 1>I was dazed with the horror of the thing. Then
<v Speaker 1>I began to think of Holmes's own methods, and to
<v Speaker 1>try to practice them in reading this tragedy. It was alas,
<v Speaker 1>only too easy to do. During our conversation, we had
<v Speaker 1>not gone to the end of the path, and the
<v Speaker 1>alpine stock marked the place where we had stood. The
<v Speaker 1>blackish soil is kept forever soft by the incessant drift
<v Speaker 1>of spray, and a bird would leave its tread upon it.
<v Speaker 1>Two lines of footmarks were clearly marked along the farther
<v Speaker 1>end of the path, both leading away from me. There
<v Speaker 1>were none. Returning a few yards from the end, the
<v Speaker 1>soil was all plowed up into a patch of mud,
<v Speaker 1>and the branches and ferns which fringed the chasm were
<v Speaker 1>torn and bedraggled. I lay upon my face and peered over,
<v Speaker 1>with the spray spouting up all around me. It had
<v Speaker 1>darkened since I left, and now I could only see
<v Speaker 1>here and there the glistening of moisture upon the black walls,
<v Speaker 1>and far away down at the end of the shaft,
<v Speaker 1>the gleam of the broken water. I shouted, but only
<v Speaker 1>the same half human cry of the fall was borne
<v Speaker 1>back to my ears. But it was destined that I
<v Speaker 1>should after all have a last word of greeting from
<v Speaker 1>my friend and comrade. I have said that his alpine
<v Speaker 1>stock had been left leaning against a rock which jutted
<v Speaker 1>on to the path from the top of this boulder.
<v Speaker 1>The gleam of something bright caught my eye, and raising
<v Speaker 1>my hand, I found that it came from the silver
<v Speaker 1>cigarette case which he used to carry. As I took
<v Speaker 1>it up, a small square of paper upon which it
<v Speaker 1>had lain fluttered down on to the ground, and unfolding it,
<v Speaker 1>I found that it consisted of three pages torn from
<v Speaker 1>his note book and addressed to me. It was characteristic
<v Speaker 1>of the man that the direction was as precise and
<v Speaker 1>the writing as firm and clear, as though it had
<v Speaker 1>been written in his study. My dear Watson, it said,
<v Speaker 1>I write these few lines through the courtesy of mister Moriarty,
<v Speaker 1>who awaits my convenience for the final discussion of those
<v Speaker 1>questions which lie between us. He has been giving me
<v Speaker 1>a sketch of the methods by which he avoided the
<v Speaker 1>English police and kept himself informed of our movements. They
<v Speaker 1>certainly confirmed the very high opinion which I had formed
<v Speaker 1>of his abilities. I am pleased to think that I
<v Speaker 1>shall be able to free society from any further effects
<v Speaker 1>of his presence, though I fear that it is at
<v Speaker 1>a cost which will give pain to my friends, and
<v Speaker 1>especially my dear Watson. To you, I have already explained
<v Speaker 1>to you, however, that my career had in any case
<v Speaker 1>reached its crisis, and that no possible conclusion to it
<v Speaker 1>could be more congenial to me than this. Indeed, if
<v Speaker 1>I may make a full confession to you, I was
<v Speaker 1>quite convinced that the letter from Meyringen was a hoax,
<v Speaker 1>and I allowed you to depart on that errand under
<v Speaker 1>the persuasion that some development of this sort would follow,
<v Speaker 1>tell Inspector Patterson that the papers which he needs to
<v Speaker 1>convict the gang are in Pigeonhole, m done up in
<v Speaker 1>a blue envelope and inscribed Moriarty. I made every disposition
<v Speaker 1>of my property before leaving England and handed it to
<v Speaker 1>my brother Microft. Pray, give my greetings to missus Watson,
<v Speaker 1>and believe me to be my dear fellow. Very sincerely yours,
<v Speaker 1>Sherlock Holmes. A few words may suffice to tell the
<v Speaker 1>little that remains. An examination by experts leaves little doubt
<v Speaker 1>that a person contest between the two men ended, as
<v Speaker 1>it could hardly fail to end in such a situation,
<v Speaker 1>in their reeling over locked in each other's arms, any
<v Speaker 1>attempt at recovering the bodies was absolutely hopeless, and there,
<v Speaker 1>deep down in that dreadful cauldron of swirling water and
<v Speaker 1>seething foam, will lie for all time the most dangerous
<v Speaker 1>criminal and the foremost champion of the law of their generation.
<v Speaker 1>The Swiss youth was never found again, and there can
<v Speaker 1>be no doubt that he was one of the numerous
<v Speaker 1>agents whom Moriarty kept in his employ. As to the gang,
<v Speaker 1>it will be within the memory of the public how
<v Speaker 1>completely the evidence which Holmes had accumulated exposed their organization,
<v Speaker 1>and how heavily the hand of the dead man weighed
<v Speaker 1>upon them of their terrible chief. Few details came out
<v Speaker 1>during the proceedings, And if I have now been compelled
<v Speaker 1>to make a clear stateatement of his career, it is
<v Speaker 1>due to those injudicious champions who have endeavored to clear
<v Speaker 1>his memory by attacks upon him, whom I shall ever
<v Speaker 1>regard as the best and the wisest man whom I
<v Speaker 1>have ever known. End of the final problem