It may be remembered that after my marriage, and my subsequent start in private practice, the very intimate relations which had existed between Holmes and myself became to some extent modified. He still came to me from time to time when he desired a companion in his investigations7, but these occasions grew more and more seldom, until I find that in the year 1890 there were only three cases of which I retain any record. During the winter of that year and the early spring of 1891, I saw in the papers that he had been engaged by the French government upon a matter of supreme9 importance, and I received two notes from Holmes, dated from Narbonne and from Nimes, from which I gathered that his stay in France was likely to be a long one. It was with some surprise, therefore, that I saw him walk into my consulting-room upon the evening of April 24th. It struck me that he was looking even paler and thinner than usual.
“Yes, I have been using myself up rather too freely,” he remarked, in answer to my look rather than to my words; “I have been a little pressed of late. Have you any objection to my closing your shutters10?”
The only light in the room came from the lamp upon the table at which I had been reading. Holmes edged his way round the wall, and, flinging the shutters together, he bolted them securely.
“You are afraid of something?” I asked.
“Well, I am.”
“Of what?”
“Of air-guns.”
“My dear Holmes, what do you mean?”
“I think that you know me well enough, Watson, to understand that I am by no means a nervous man. At the same time, it is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you. Might I trouble you for a match?” He drew in the smoke of his cigarette as if the soothing11 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 scrambling12 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 knuckles13 were burst and bleeding.
“It’s 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.”
“Ay, there’s the genius and the wonder of the thing!” he cried. “The man pervades14 London, and no one has heard of him. That’s what puts him on a pinnacle15 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 placid16 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 faculty17. At the age of twenty-one he wrote a treatise18 upon the binomial theorem, which has had a European vogue19. On the strength of it he won the mathematical chair at one of our smaller universities, and had, to all appearances, a most brilliant career before him. But the man had hereditary20 tendencies of the most diabolical21 kind. A criminal strain ran in his blood, which, instead of being modified, was increased and rendered infinitely22 more dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers. Dark rumours23 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 malefactor24, some deep organizing power which forever stands in the way of the law, and throws its shield over the wrong-doer. Again and again in cases of the most varying sorts — forgery25 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 endeavoured to break through the veil which shrouded26 it, and at last the time came when I seized my thread and followed it, until it led me, after a thousand cunning windings27, to ex-Professor Moriarty, of mathematical celebrity28.
“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 centre 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 bail29 or his detence. 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 devoted30 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 antagonist31 who was my intellectual equal. My horror at his crimes was lost in my admiration32 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 prematurely34, 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 toils35 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 detailed36 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 taken, 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 standing37 there on my threshold. His appearance was quite familiar to me. He is extremely tall and thin, his forehead domes38 out in a white curve, and his two eyes are deeply sunken in his 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 protrudes40 forward and is forever slowly oscillating from side to side in a curiously41 reptilian42 fashion. He peered at me with great curiosity in his puckered43 eyes.
“‘You have less frontal development than 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 revolver 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 know 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 scribbled45 some dates.
“‘You crossed my path on the fourth of January,’ said he. ‘On the twenty-third you incommoded me; by the middle of February I was seriously inconvenienced by you; at the end of March I was absolutely hampered46 in my plans; and now, at the close of April, I find myself placed in such a position through your continual persecution47 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 left. 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, but I assure you that it really would.
“‘Danger is part of my trade,’ I remarked.
“‘This is not danger,’ said he. ‘It is inevitable48 destruction. You stand in the way not merely of an individual but of a mighty49 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 duel50 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 snarled51, and so turned his rounded back upon me and went peering and blinking out of the room.
“That was my singular intervie with Professor Moriarty. I confess that it left an unpleasant effect upon my mind. His soft, precise fashion of speech leaves a conviction of sincerity52 which a mere44 bully53 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 would fall. I have the best of 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 midday to transact54 some business in Oxford55 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 slates56 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 Pall57 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 custody58; 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 daresay, 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 conspicuous59 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 neighbour. 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 rogue60 and the most powerful syndicate of criminals in Europe. Now listen! You will dispatch 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 Strand61 end of the Lowther Arcade62, handing 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, timing63 yourself to reach the other side at a quarter-past nine. You will find a small brougham waiting close to the curb64, 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 Continental65 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 rendezvous66, then?”
“Yes.”
It was in vain that I asked Holmes to remain for the evening. It was evident to me that he thought he might bring trouble to the roof he was under, and that that was the motive67 which impelled68 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 procured69 with such precautions 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 rattled70 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 lithe72 figure of my friend. There was no sign of him. I spent a few minutes in assisting a venerable Italian priest, who was endeavouring 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 decrepit73 Italian friend as a travelling companion. It was useless for me to explain to him that his presence was an intrusion, for my Italian was even more limited than his English, so I shrugged74 my shoulders resignedly, and continued to look out anxiously for my friend. A chill of fear had come over me, as I thought that his absence might mean that some blow had fallen during the night. Already the doors had all been shut and the whistle blown, when —
“My dear Watson,” said a voice, “you have not even condescended75 to say good-morning.”
I turned in uncontrollable astonishment77. The aged8 ecclesiastic78 had turned his face towards me. For an instant the wrinkles were smoothed away, the nose drew away from the chin, the lower lip ceased to protrude39 and the mouth to mumble79, the dull eyes regained80 their fire, the drooping81 figure expanded. The next the whole frame collapsed82 again, and Holmes had gone as quickly as he had come.
“Good heavens!” I cried, “how you startled me!”
“Every precaution is still necessary,” he whispered. “I have reason to think that they are hot upon our trail. Ah, there is Moriarty himself.”
The train had already begun to move as Holmes spoke83. Glancing back, I saw a tall man pushing his way furiously through the crowd, and waving his hand as if he desired to have the train stopped. It was too late, however, for we were rapidly gathering84 momentum85, and an instant later had shot clear of the station.
“With all our precautions, you see that we have cut it rather fine,” said Holmes, laughing. He rose, and throwing off the black cassock and hat which had formed his disguise, he packed them away in a hand-bag.
“Have you seen the morning paper, Watson?”
“No.”
“You haven’t seen about Baker86 Street, then?”
“Baker Street?”
“They set fire to our rooms last night. No great harm was done.”
“Good heavens, Holmes, this is intolerable!”
“They must have lost my track completely after their bludgeonman was arrested. Otherwise they could not have imagined that I had returned to my rooms. They have evidently taken the precaution of watching you, however, and that is what has brought Moriarty to Victoria. You could not have made any slip in coming?”
“I did exactly what you advised.”
“Did you find your brougham?”
“Yes, it was waiting.”
“Did you recognize your coachman?”
“No.”
“It was my brother Mycroft. It is an advantage to get about in such a case without taking a mercenary into your confidence. But we must plan what we are to do about Moriarty now.”
“As this is an express, and as the boat runs in connection with it, I should think we have shaken him off very effectively.”
“My dear Watson, you evidently did not realize my meaning when I said that this man may be taken as being quite on the same intellectual plane as myself. You do not imagine that if I were the pursuer I should allow myself to be baffled by so slight an obstacle. Why, then, should you think so meanly of him?”
“What will he do?”
“What I should do.”
“What would you do, then?”
“Engage a special.”
“But it must be late.”
“By no means. This train stops at Canterbury; and there is always at least a quarter of an hour’s delay at the boat. He will catch us there.”
“One would think that we were the criminals. Let us have him arrested on his arrival.”
“It would be to ruin the work of three months. We should get the big fish, but the smaller would dart87 right and left out of the net. On Monday we should have them all. No, an arrest is inadmissible.”
“What then?”
“We shall get out at Canterbury.”
“And then?”
“Well, then we must make a cross-country journey to Newhaven, and so over to Dieppe. Moriarty will again do what I should do. He will get on to Paris, mark down our luggage, and wait for two days at the depot88. In the meantime we shall treat ourselves to a couple of carpet-bags, encourage the manufactures of the countries through which we travel, and make our way at our leisure into Switzerland, via Luxembourg and Basle.”
At Canterbury, therefore, we alighted, only to find that we should have to wait an hour before we could get a train to Newhaven.
I was still looking rather ruefully after the rapidly disappearing luggage-van which contained my wardrobe, when Holmes pulled my sleeve and pointed89 up the line.
“Already, you see,” said he.
Far away, from among the Kentish woods there rose a thin spray of smoke. A minute later a carriage and engine could be seen flying along the open curve which leads to the station. We had hardly time to take our place behind a pile of luggage when it passed with a rattle71 and a roar, beating a blast of hot air into our faces.
“There he goes,” said Holmes, as we watched the carriage swing and rock over the points. “There are limits, you see, to our friend’s intelligence. It would have been a coup-de-maitre had he deduced what I would deduce and acted accordingly.”
“And what would he have done had he overtaken us?”
“There cannot be the least doubt that he would have made a murderous attack upon me. It is, however, a game at which two may play. The question now is whether we should take a premature33 lunch here, or run our chance of starving before we reach the buffet90 at Newhaven.”
We made our way to Brussels that night and spent two days there, moving on upon the third day as far as Strasbourg. On the Monday morning Holmes had telegraphed to the London police, and in the evening we found a reply waiting for us at our hotel. Holmes tore it open, and then with a bitter curse hurled91 it into the grate.
“I might have known it!” he groaned92. “He has escaped!”
“Moriarty?”
“They have secured the whole gang with the exception of him. He has given them the slip. Of course, when I had left the country there was no one to cope with him. But I did think that I had put the game in their hands. I think that you had better return to England, Watson.”
“Why?”
“Because you will find me a dangerous companion now. This man’s occupation is gone. He is lost if he returns to London. If I read his character right he will devote his whole energies to revenging himself upon me. He said as much in our short interview, and I fancy that he meant it. I should certainly recommend you to return to your practice.”
It was hardly an appeal to be successful with one who was an old campaigner as well as an old friend. We sat in the Strasbourg salle-a-manger arguing the question for half an hour, but the same night we had resumed our journey and were well on our way to Geneva.
For a charming week we wandered up the valley of the Rhone, and then, branching off at Leuk, we made our way over the Gemmi Pass, still deep in snow, and so, by way of Interlaken, to Meiringen. It was a lovely trip, the dainty green of the spring below, the virgin93 white of the winter above; but it was clear to me that never for one instant did Holmes forget the shadow which lay across him. In the homely94 Alpine95 villages or in the lonely mountain passes, I could still tell by his quick glancing eyes and his sharp scrutiny96 of every face that passed us, that he was well convinced that, walk where we would, we could not walk ourselves clear of the danger which was dogging our footsteps
Once, I remember, as we passed over the Gemmi, and walked along the border of the melancholy97 Daubensee, a large rock which had been dislodged from the ridge98 upon our right clattered99 down and roared into the lake behind us. In an instant Holmes had raced up on to the ridge, and, standing upon a lofty pinnacle, craned his neck in every direction. It was in vain that our guide assured him that a fall of stones was a common chance in the springtime at that spot. He said nothing, but he smiled at me with the air of a man who sees the fulfilment of that which he had expected.
And yet for all his watchfulness100 he was never depressed101. On the contrary, I can never recollect102 having seen him in such exuberant103 spirits. Again and again he recurred104 to the fact that if he could be assured that society was freed from Professor Moriarty he would cheerfully bring his own career to a conclusion.
“I think that I may go so far as to say, Watson, that I have not lived wholly in vain,” he remarked. “If my record were closed to-night I could still survey it with equanimity105. The air of London is the sweeter for my presence. In over a thousand cases I am not aware that I have ever used my powers upon the wrong side. Of late I have been tempted106 to look into the problems furnished by nature rather than those more superficial ones tor which our artificial state of society is responsible. Your memoirs107 will draw to an end, Watson, upon the day that I crown my career by the capture or extinction108 of the most dangerous and capable criminal in Europe.”
I shall be brief, and yet exact, in the little which remains109 for me to tell. It is not a subject on which I would willingly dwell, and yet I am conscious that a duty devolves upon me to omit no detail.
It was on the third of May that we reached the little village of Meiringen, where we put up at the Englischer Hof, then kept by Peter Steiler the elder. Our landlord was an intelligent man and spoke excellent English, having served for three years as waiter at the Grosvenor Hotel in London. At his advice, on the afternoon of the fourth we set off together, with the intention of crossing the hills and spending the night at the hamlet of Rosenlaui. We had strict injunctions, however, on no account to pass the falls of Reichenbach, which are about halfway110 up the hills, without making a small detour111 to see them.
It is, indeed, a fearful place. The torrent112, swollen113 by the melting snow, plunges114 into a tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up like the smoke from a burning house. The shaft115 into which the river hurls116 itself is an immense chasm117, lined by glistening118 coal-black rock, and narrowing into a creaming, boiling pit of incalculable depth, which brims over and shoots the stream onward119 over its jagged lip. The long sweep of green water roaring forever down, and the thick flickering120 curtain of spray hissing121 forever upward, turn a man giddy with their constant whirl and clamour. We stood near the edge peering down at the gleam of the breaking water far below us against the black rocks, and listening to the half-human shout which came booming up with the spray out of the abyss.
The path has been cut halfway round the fall to afford a complete view, but it ends abruptly122, and the traveller has to return as he came. We had turned to do so, when we saw a Swiss lad come running along it with a letter in his hand. It bore the mark of the hotel which we had just left and was addressed to me by the landlord. It appeared that within a very few minutes of our leaving, an English lady had arrived who was in the last stage of consumption. She had wintered at Davos Platz and was journeying now to join her friends at Lucerne, when a sudden hemorrhage had overtaken her. It was thought that she could hardly live a few hours, but it would be a great consolation123 to her to see an English doctor, and, if I would only return, etc. The good Steiler assured me in a postscript124 that he would himself look upon my compliance125 as a very great favour, since the lady absolutely refused to see a Swiss physician, and he could not but feel that he was incurring126 a great responsibility.
The appeal was one which could not be ignored. It was impossible to refuse the request of a fellow-countrywoman dying in a strange land. Yet I had my scruples127 about leaving Holmes. It was finally agreed, however, that he should retain the young Swiss messenger with him as guide and companion while I returned to Meiringen. My friend would stay some little time at the fall, he said, and would then walk slowly over the hill to Rosenlaui, where I was to rejoin him in the evening. As I turned away I saw Holmes, with his back against a rock and his arms folded, gazing down at the rush of the waters. It was the last that I was ever destined128 to see of him in this world.
When I was near the bottom of the descent I looked back. It was impossible, from that position, to see the fall, but I could see the curving path which winds over the shoulder of the hills and leads to it. Along this a man was, I remember, walking very rapidly.
I could see his black figure clearly outlined against the green behind him. I noted129 him, and the energy with which he walked, but he passed from my mind again as I hurried on upon my errand.
It may have been a little over an hour before I reached Meiringen. Old Steiler was standing at the porch of his hotel.
“Well,” said I, as I came hurrying up, “I trust that she is no worse?”
A look of surprise passed over his face, and at the first quiver of his eyebrows130 my heart turned to lead in my breast.
“You did not write this?” I said, pulling the letter from my pocket. “There is no sick Englishwoman in the hotel?”
“Certainly not!” he cried. “But it has the hotel mark upon it! Ha, it must have been written by that tall Englishman who came in after you had gone. He said —”
But I waited for none of the landlord’s explanation. In a tingle131 of fear I was already running down the village street, and making for the path which I had so lately descended76. It had taken me an hour to come down. For all my efforts two more had passed before I found myself at the fall of Reichenbach once more. There was Holmes’s Alpine-stock still leaning against the rock by which I had left him. But there was no sign of him, and it was in vain that I shouted. My only answer was my own voice reverberating132 in a rolling echo from the cliffs around me.
It was the sight of that Alpine-stock which turned me cold and sick. He had not gone to Rosenlaui, then. He had remained on that three-foot path, with sheer wall on one side and sheer drop on the other, until his enemy had overtaken him. The young Swiss had gone too. He had probably been in the pay of Moriarty and had left the two men together. And then what had happened? Who was to tell us what had happened then?
I stood for a minute or two to collect myself, for I was dazed with the horror of the thing. Then I began to think of Holmes’s own methods and to try to practise them in reading this tragedy. It was, alas133, only too easy to do. During our conversation we had not gone to the end of the path, and the Alpine-stock marked the place where we had stood. The blackish soil is kept forever soft by the incessant134 drift of spray, and a bird would leave its tread upon it. Two lines of footmarks were clearly marked along the farther end of the path, both leading away from me. There were none returning. A few yards from the end the soil was all ploughed up into a patch of mud, and the brambles and ferns which fringed the chasm were torn and bedraggled. I lay upon my face and peered over with the spray spouting135 up all around me. It had darkened since I left, and now I could only see here and there the glistening of moisture upon the black walls, and far away down at the end of the shaft the gleam of the broken water. I shouted; but only that same half-human cry of the fall was borne back to my ears.
But it was destined that I should, after all, have a last word of greeting from my friend and comrade. I have said that his Alpine-stock had been left leaning against a rock which jutted136 on to the path. From the top of this boulder137 the gleam of something bright caught my eye, and raising my hand I found that it came from the silver cigarette-case which he used to carry. As I took it up a small square of paper upon which it had lain fluttered down on to the ground. Unfolding it, I found that it consisted of three pages torn from his notebook and addressed to me. It was characteristic of the man that the direction was as precise, and the writing as firm and clear, as though it had been written in his study.
MY DEAR WATSON [it said]:
I write these few lines through the courtesy of Mr. Moriarty, who awaits my convenience for the final discussion of those questions which lie between us. He has been giving me a sketch138 of the methods by which he avoided the English police and kept himself informed of our movements. They certainly confirm the very high opinion which I had formed of his abilities. I am pleased to think that I shall be able to free society from any further effects of his presence, though I fear that it is at a cost which will give pain to my friends, and especially, my dear Watson, to you. I have already explained to you, however, that my career had in any case reached its crisis, and that no possible conclusion to it could be more congenial to me than this. Indeed, if I may make a full confession139 to you, I was quite convinced that the letter from Meiringen was a hoax140, and I allowed you to depart on that errand under the persuasion141 that some development of this sort would follow. Tell Inspector142 Patterson that the papers which he needs to convict the gang are in pigeonhole143 M., done up in a blue envelope and inscribed144 “Moriarty.” I made every disposition145 of my property before leaving England and handed it to my brother Mycroft. Pray give my greetings to Mrs. Watson, and believe me to be, my dear fellow
Very sincerely yours,
SHERLOCK HOLMES.
A few words may suffice to tell the little that remains. An examination by experts leaves little doubt that a personal contest between the two men ended, as it could hardly fail to end in such a situation, in their reeling over, locked in each other’s arms. Any attempt at recovering the bodies was absolutely hopeless, and there, deep down in that dreadful cauldron of swirling146 water and seething147 foam148, will lie for all time the most dangerous criminal and the foremost champion of the law of their generation. The Swiss youth was never found again, and there can be no doubt that he was one of the numerous agents whom Moriarty kept in his employ. As to the gang, it will be within the memory of the public how completely the evidence which Holmes had accumulated exposed their organization, and how heavily the hand of the dead man weighed upon them. Of their terrible chief few details came out during the proceedings149, and if I have now been compelled to make a clear statement of his career, it is due to those injudicious champions who have endeavoured to clear his memory by attacks upon him whom I shall ever regard as the best and the wisest man whom I have ever known.
The End
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1
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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4
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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5
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6
perversion
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| n.曲解；堕落；反常 | |
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7
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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11
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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12
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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13
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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14
pervades
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的第三人称单数 ) | |
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15
pinnacle
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| n.尖塔，尖顶，山峰；(喻)顶峰 | |
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16
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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17
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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18
treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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19
Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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21
diabolical
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| adj.恶魔似的，凶暴的 | |
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22
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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malefactor
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| n.罪犯 | |
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25
forgery
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| n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为） | |
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26
shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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27
windings
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| （道路、河流等）蜿蜒的，弯曲的( winding的名词复数 )； 缠绕( wind的现在分词 )； 卷绕； 转动（把手） | |
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28
celebrity
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| n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望 | |
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29
bail
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| v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人 | |
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30
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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31
antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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32
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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33
premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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34
prematurely
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| adv.过早地，贸然地 | |
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35
toils
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| 网 | |
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36
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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37
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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38
domes
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| n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场 | |
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39
protrude
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| v.使突出，伸出，突出 | |
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40
protrudes
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的第三人称单数 ) | |
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41
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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42
reptilian
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| adj.（像）爬行动物的；（像）爬虫的；卑躬屈节的；卑鄙的n.两栖动物；卑劣的人 | |
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43
puckered
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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45
scribbled
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| v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
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46
hampered
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| 妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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48
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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49
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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50
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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51
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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52
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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53
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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54
transact
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| v.处理；做交易；谈判 | |
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55
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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56
slates
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| （旧时学生用以写字的）石板( slate的名词复数 )； 板岩； 石板瓦； 石板色 | |
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57
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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58
custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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59
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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60
rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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61
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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62
arcade
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| n.拱廊；(一侧或两侧有商店的)通道 | |
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63
timing
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| n.时间安排，时间选择 | |
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64
curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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65
continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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66
rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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67
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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68
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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70
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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71
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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72
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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73
decrepit
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| adj.衰老的，破旧的 | |
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74
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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75
condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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76
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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77
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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78
ecclesiastic
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| n.教士，基督教会；adj.神职者的，牧师的，教会的 | |
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79
mumble
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| n./v.喃喃而语，咕哝 | |
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80
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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81
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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82
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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83
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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84
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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85
momentum
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| n.动力，冲力，势头；动量 | |
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86
baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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87
dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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88
depot
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| n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站 | |
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89
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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91
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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92
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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93
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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94
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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95
alpine
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| adj.高山的；n.高山植物 | |
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96
scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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97
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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98
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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99
clattered
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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100
watchfulness
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| 警惕，留心； 警觉（性） | |
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101
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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102
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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103
exuberant
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| adj.充满活力的；（植物）繁茂的 | |
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104
recurred
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| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
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105
equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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106
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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107
memoirs
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| n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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108
extinction
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| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
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109
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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detour
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| n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道 | |
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torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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plunges
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| n.跳进，投入vt.使投入，使插入，使陷入vi.投入，跳进，陷入v.颠簸( plunge的第三人称单数 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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hurls
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的第三人称单数 )；大声叫骂 | |
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chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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121
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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122
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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postscript
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| n.附言，又及；(正文后的)补充说明 | |
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compliance
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| n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从 | |
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incurring
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| 遭受，招致，引起( incur的现在分词 ) | |
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scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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tingle
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| vi.感到刺痛，感到激动；n.刺痛，激动 | |
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reverberating
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| 回响，回荡( reverberate的现在分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射 | |
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133
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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spouting
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| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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jutted
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| v.（使）突出( jut的过去式和过去分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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hoax
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| v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧 | |
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persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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143
pigeonhole
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| n.鸽舍出入口；v.把...归类 | |
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144
inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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swirling
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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147
seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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148
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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