The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Might I trouble you for a match?" He drew in the

  smoke of his cigarette as if the soothing influence

  was grateful to him.

  "I must apologize for calling so late," said he, "and

  I must further beg you to be so unconventional as to

  allow me to leave your house presently by scrambling

  over your back garden wall."

  "But what does it all mean?" I asked.

  He held out his hand, and I saw in the light of the

  lamp that two of his knuckles were burst and bleeding.

  "It is not an airy nothing, you see," said he,

  smiling. "On the contrary, it is solid enough for a

  man to break his hand over. Is Mrs. Watson in?"

  "She is away upon a visit."

  "Indeed! You are alone?"

  "Quite."

  "Then it makes it the easier for me to propose that

  you should come away with me for a week to the

  Continent."

  "Where?"

  "Oh, anywhere. It's all the same to me."

  There was something very strange in all this. It was

  not Holmes's nature to take an aimless holiday, and

  something about his pale, worn face told me that his

  nerves were at their highest tension. He saw the

  question in my eyes, and, putting his finger-tips

  together and his elbows upon his knees, he explained

  the situation.

  "You have probably never heard of Professor Moriarty?"

  said he.

  "Never."

  "Aye, there's the genius and the wonder of the thing!"

  he cried. "The man pervades London, and no one has

  heard of him. That's what puts him on a pinnacle in

  the records of crime. I tell you, Watson, in all

  seriousness, that if I could beat that man, if I could

  free society of him, I should feel that my own career

  had reached its summit, and I should be prepared to

  turn to some more placid line in life. Between

  ourselves, the recent cases in which I have been of

  assistance to the royal family of Scandinavia, and to

  the French republic, have left me in such a position

  that I could continue to live in the quiet fashion

  which is most congenial to me, and to concentrate my

  attention upon my chemical researches. But I could

  not rest, Watson, I could not sit quiet in my chair,

  if I thought that such a man as Professor Moriarty

  were walking the streets of London unchallenged."

  "What has he done, then?"

  "His career has been an extraordinary one. He is a

  man of good birth and excellent education, endowed by

  nature with a phenomenal mathematical faculty. At the

  age of twenty-one he wrote a treatise upon the

  Binomial Theorem, which has had a European vogue. On

  the strength of it he won the Mathematical Chair at

  one of our smaller universities, and had, to all

  appearance, a most brilliant career before him. But

  the man had hereditary tendencies of the most

  diabolical kind. A criminal strain ran in his blood,

  which, instead of being modified, was increased and

  rendered infinitely more dangerous by his

  extraordinary mental powers. Dark rumors gathered

  round him in the university town, and eventually he

  was compelled to resign his chair and to come down to

  London, where he set up as an army coach. So much is

  known to the world, but what I am telling you now is

  what I have myself discovered.

  "As you are aware, Watson, there is no one who knows

  the higher criminal world of London so well as I do.

  For years past I have continually been conscious of

  some power behind the malefactor, some deep organizing

  power which forever stands in the way of the law, and

  throws it shield over the wrong-doer. Again and again

  in cases of the most varying sorts--forgery cases,

  robberies, murders--I have felt the presence of this

  force, and I have deduced its action in many of those

  undiscovered crimes in which I have not been

  personally consulted. For years I have endeavored to

  break through the veil which shrouded it, and at last

  the time came when I seized my thread and followed it,

  until it led me, after a thousand cunning windings, to

  ex-Professor Moriarty of mathematical celebrity.

  He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the

  organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that

  is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a

  philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of

  the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in

  the center of its web, but that web has a thousand

  radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of

  them. He does little himself. He only plans. But

  his agents are numerous and splendidly organized. Is

  there a crime to be done, a paper to be abstracted, we

  will say, a house to be rifled, a man to be

  removed--the word is passed to the Professor, the

  matter is organized and carried out. The agent may be

  caught. In that case money is found for his bail or

  his defence. But the central power which uses the

  agent is never caught--never so much as suspected.

  This was the organization which I deduced, Watson, and

  which I devoted my whole energy to exposing and

  breaking up.

  "But the Professor was fenced round with safeguards so

  cunningly devised that, do what I would, it seemed

  impossible to get evidence which would convict in a

  court of law. You know my powers, my dear Watson, and

  yet at the end of three months I was forced to confess

  that I had at last met an antagonist who was my

  intellectual equal. My horror at his crimes was lost

  in my admiration at his skill. But at last he made a

  trip--only a little, little trip--but it was more than

  he could afford when I was so close upon him. I had

  my chance, and, starting from that point, I have woven

  my net round him until now it is all ready to close.

  In three days--that is to say, on Monday next--matters

  will be ripe, and the Professor, with all the

  principal members of his gang, will be in the hands of

  the police. Then will come the greatest criminal

  trial of the century, the clearing up of over forty

  mysteries, and the rope for all of them; but if we

  move at all prematurely, you understand, they may slip

  out of our hands even at the last moment.

  "Now, if I could have done this without the knowledge

  of Professor Moriarty, all would have been well. But

  he was too wily for that. He saw every step which I

  took to draw my toils round him. Again and again he

  strove to break away, but I as often headed him off.

  I tell you, my friend, that if a detailed account of

  that silent contest could be written, it would take

  its place as the most brilliant bit of

  thrust-and-parry work in the history of detection.

  Never have I risen to such a height, and never have I

  been so hard pressed by an opponent. He cut deep, and

  yet I just undercut him. This morning the last steps

  were t
aken, and three days only were wanted to

  complete the business. I was sitting in my room

  thinking the matter over, when the door opened and

  Professor Moriarty stood before me.

  "My nerves are fairly proof, Watson, but I must

  confess to a start when I saw the very man who had

  been so much in my thoughts standing there on my

  thresh-hold. His appearance was quite familiar to me.

  He is extremely tall and thin, his forehead domes out

  in a white curve, and his two eyes are deeply sunken

  in this head. He is clean-shaven, pale, and

  ascetic-looking, retaining something of the professor

  in his features. His shoulders are rounded from much

  study, and his face protrudes forward, and is forever

  slowly oscillating from side to side in a curiously

  reptilian fashion. He peered at me with great

  curiosity in his puckered eyes.

  "'You have less frontal development that I should have

  expected,' said he, at last. 'It is a dangerous habit

  to finger loaded firearms in the pocket of one's

  dressing-gown.'

  "The fact is that upon his entrance I had instantly

  recognized the extreme personal danger in which I lay.

  The only conceivable escape for him lay in silencing

  my tongue. In an instant I had slipped the revolved

  from the drawer into my pocket, and was covering him

  through the cloth. At his remark I drew the weapon

  out and laid it cocked upon the table. He still

  smiled and blinked, but there was something about his

  eyes which made me feel very glad that I had it there.

  "'You evidently don't now me,' said he.

  "'On the contrary,' I answered, 'I think it is fairly

  evident that I do. Pray take a chair. I can spare

  you five minutes if you have anything to say.'

  "'All that I have to say has already crossed your

  mind,' said he.

  "'Then possibly my answer has crossed yours,' I

  replied.

  "'You stand fast?'

  "'Absolutely.'

  "He clapped his hand into his pocket, and I raised the

  pistol from the table. But he merely drew out a

  memorandum-book in which he had scribbled some dates.

  "'You crossed my patch on the 4th of January,' said

  he. 'On the 23d you incommoded me; by the middle of

  February I was seriously inconvenienced by you; at the

  end of March I was absolutely hampered in my plans;

  and now, at the close of April, I find myself placed

  in such a position through your continual persecution

  that I am in positive danger of losing my liberty.

  The situation is becoming an impossible one.'

  "'Have you any suggestion to make?' I asked.

  "'You must drop it, Mr. Holmes,' said he, swaying his

  face about. 'You really must, you know.'

  "'After Monday,' said I.

  "'Tut, tut,' said he. 'I am quite sure that a man of

  your intelligence will see that there can be but one

  outcome to this affair. It is necessary that you

  should withdraw. You have worked things in such a

  fashion that we have only one resource. It has been

  an intellectual treat to me to see the way in which

  you have grappled with this affair, and I say,

  unaffectedly, that it would be a grief to me to be

  forced to take any extreme measure. You smile, sir,

  abut I assure you that it really would.'

  "'Danger is part of my trade,' I remarked.

  "'That is not danger,' said he. 'It is inevitable

  destruction. You stand in the way not merely of an

  individual, but of a might organization, the full

  extent of which you, with all your cleverness, have

  been unable to realize. You must stand clear, Mr.

  Holmes, or be trodden under foot.'

  "'I am afraid,' said I, rising, 'that in the pleasure

  of this conversation I am neglecting business of

  importance which awaits me elsewhere.'

  "He rose also and looked at me in silence, shaking his

  head sadly.

  "'Well, well,' said he, at last. 'It seems a pity,

  but I have done what I could. I know every move of

  your game. You can do nothing before Monday. It has

  been a duel between you and me, Mr. Holmes. You hope

  to place me in the dock. I tell you that I will never

  stand in the dock. You hope to beat me. I tell you

  that you will never beat me. If you are clever enough

  to bring destruction upon me, rest assured that I

  shall do as much to you.'

  "'You have paid me several compliments, Mr. Moriarty,'

  said I. 'Let me pay you one in return when I say that

  if I were assured of the former eventuality I would,

  in the interests of the public, cheerfully accept the

  latter.'

  "'I can promise you the one, but not the other,' he

  snarled, and so turned his rounded back upon me, and

  went peering and blinking out of the room.

  "That was my singular interview with Professor

  Moriarty. I confess that it left an unpleasant effect

  upon my mind. His soft, precise fashion of speech

  leaves a conviction of sincerity which a mere bully

  could not produce. Of course, you will say: 'Why not

  take police precautions against him?' the reason is

  that I am well convinced that it is from his agents

  the blow will fall. I have the best proofs that it

  would be so."

  "You have already been assaulted?"

  "My dear Watson, Professor Moriarty is not a man who

  lets the grass grow under his feet. I went out about

  mid-day to transact some business in Oxford Street.

  As I passed the corner which leads from Bentinck

  Street on to the Welbeck Street crossing a two-horse

  van furiously driven whizzed round and was on me like

  a flash. I sprang for the foot-path and saved myself

  by the fraction of a second. The van dashed round by

  Marylebone Lane and was gone in an instant. I kept to

  the pavement after that, Watson, but as I walked down

  Vere Street a brick came down from the roof of one of

  the houses, and was shattered to fragments at my feet.

  I called the police and had the place examined. There

  were slates and bricks piled up on the roof

  preparatory to some repairs, and they would have me

  believe that the wind had toppled over one of these.

  Of course I knew better, but I could prove nothing. I

  took a cab after that and reached my brother's rooms

  in Pall Mall, where I spent the day. Now I have come

  round to you, and on my way I was attacked by a rough

  with a bludgeon. I knocked him down, and the police

  have him in custody; but I can tell you with the most

  absolute confidence that no possible connection will

  ever be traced between the gentleman upon whose front

  teeth I have barked my knuckles and the retiring

  mathematical coach, who is, I dare say, working out

  problems upon a black-board ten miles away. You will

  not wonder, Watson, that my first act on entering your

  rooms was to close your shutters, and that I have been

  compelled to ask your
permission to leave the house by

  some less conspicuous exit than the front door."

  I had often admired my friend's courage, but never

  more than now, as he sat quietly checking off a series

  of incidents which must have combined to make up a day

  of horror.

  "You will spend the night here?" I said.

  "No, my friend, you might find me a dangerous guest.

  I have my plans laid, and all will be well. Matters

  have gone so far now that they can move without my

  help as far as the arrest goes, though my presence is

  necessary for a conviction. It is obvious, therefore,

  that I cannot do better than get away for the few days

  which remain before the police are at liberty to act.

  It would be a great pleasure to me, therefore, if you

  could come on to the Continent with me."

  "The practice is quiet," said I, "and I have an

  accommodating neighbor. I should be glad to come."

  "And to start to-morrow morning?"

  "If necessary."

  "Oh yes, it is most necessary. Then these are your

  instructions, and I beg, my dear Watson, that you will

  obey them to the letter, for you are now playing a

  double-handed game with me against the cleverest rogue

  and the most powerful syndicate of criminals in

  Europe. Now listen! You will despatch whatever

  luggage you intend to take by a trusty messenger

  unaddressed to Victoria to-night. In the morning you

  will send for a hansom, desiring your man to take

  neither the first nor the second which may present

  itself. Into this hansom you will jump, and you will

  drive to the Strand end of the Lowther Arcade,

  handling the address to the cabman upon a slip of

  paper, with a request that he will not throw it away.

  Have your fare ready, and the instant that your cab

  stops, dash through the Arcade, timing yourself to

  reach the other side at a quarter-past nine. You will

  find a small brougham waiting close to the curb,

  driven by a fellow with a heavy black cloak tipped at

  the collar with red. Into this you will step, and you

  will reach Victoria in time for the Continental

  express."

  "Where shall I meet you?"

  "At the station. The second first-class carriage from

  the front will be reserved for us."

  "The carriage is our rendezvous, then?"

  "Yes."

  It was in vain that I asked Holmes to remain for the

  evening. It was evident to me that he though he might

  bring trouble to the roof he was under, and that that

  was the motive which impelled him to go. With a few

  hurried words as to our plans for the morrow he rose

  and came out with me into the garden, clambering over

  the wall which leads into Mortimer Street, and

  immediately whistling for a hansom, in which I heard

  him drive away.

  In the morning I obeyed Holmes's injunctions to the

  letter. A hansom was procured with such precaution as

  would prevent its being one which was placed ready for

  us, and I drove immediately after breakfast to the

  Lowther Arcade, through which I hurried at the top of

  my speed. A brougham was waiting with a very massive

  driver wrapped in a dark cloak, who, the instant that

  I had stepped in, whipped up the horse and rattled off

  to Victoria Station. On my alighting there he turned

  the carriage, and dashed away again without so much as

  a look in my direction.

  So far all had gone admirably. My luggage was waiting

  for me, and I had no difficulty in finding the

  carriage which Holmes had indicated, the less so as it

  was the only one in the train which was marked

  "Engaged." My only source of anxiety now was the

  non-appearance of Holmes. The station clock marked

  only seven minutes from the time when we were due to

  start. In vain I searched among the groups of

  travellers and leave-takers for the little figure of

  my friend. There was no sign of him. I spent a few

  minutes in assisting a venerable Italian priest, who

  was endeavoring to make a porter understand, in his

  broken English, that his luggage was to be booked

  through to Paris. Then, having taken another look

  round, I returned to my carriage, where I found that

  the porter, in spite of the ticket, had given me my

  decrepit Italian friend as a traveling companion. It

  was useless for me to explain to him that his presence

  was an intrusion, for my Italian was even more limited