Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impa-tiently at his gigantic client.
"If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," heremarked, "I should be better able to advise you." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down theroom in uncontrollable agitation.
Then, with a gesture of desper-ation, he tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon theground.
"You are right," he cried; "I am the King.
Why shouldI attempt to conceal it?" "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes.
"Your Majesty had notspoken before I was aware that I was addressing WilhelmGottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and hereditary King of Bohemia." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sittingdown once more and passing his hand over his high whiteforehead, "you can understand that I am not accustomed todoing such business in my own person.
Yet the matter was sodelicate that I could not confide it to an agent without puttingmyself in his power.
I have come incognito from Prague for thepurpose of consulting you." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes oncemore.
"The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during alengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known adventuress, Irene Adler.
The name is no doubt farmiliarto you." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmeswithout opening his eyes.
For many years he had adopted asystem of docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things,so that it was difficult to name a subject or a person on which hecould not at once furnish information.
In this case I found herbiography sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi andthat of a staff-commander who had written a monograph uponthe deep-sea fishes.
"Let me see!" said Holmes.
"Hum! Born in New Jersey inthe year 1858.
Contralto --hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donnaImperial Opera of Warsaw --yes! Retired from operatic stage --ha!Living in London --quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand,became entangled with this young person, wrote her somecompromising letters, and is now desirous of getting those lettersback." "Precisely so.
But how --" "Was there a secret marriage?" "None." "No legal papers or certificates?" "None." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty.
If this young personshould produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes,how is she to prove their authenticity?" "There is the writing." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "My private note-paper." "Stolen." "My own seal." "Imitated." "My photograph." "Bought." "We were both in the photograph." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed com-mitted an indiscretion." "I was mad --insane." "You have compromised yourself seriously." "I was only Crown Prince then.
I was young.
I am but thirtynow." "It must be recovered." "We have tried and failed." "Your Majesty must pay.
It must be bought." "She will not sell." "Stolen, then." "Five attempts have been made.
Twice burglars in my payransacked her house.
Once we diverted her luggage when shetravelled.
Twice she has been waylaid.
There has been no result." "No sign of it?" "Absolutely none." Holmes laughed.
"It is quite a pretty little problem," said he.
"But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully.
"Very, indeed.
And what does she propose to do with thephotograph?" "To ruin me." "But how?" "I am about to be married." "So I have heard." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughterof the King of Scandinavia.
You may know the stnct principlesof her family.
She is herself the very soul of delicacy.
A shadowof a doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "And Irene Adler?" "Threatens to send them the photograph.
And she will do it.
Iknow that she will do it.
You do not know her, but she has asoul of steel.
She has the face of the most beautiful of women,and the mind of the most resolute of men.
Rather than I shouldmarry another woman, there are no lengths to which she wouldnot go --none." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "I am sure." "And why?" "Because she has said that she would send it on the day whenthe betrothal was publicly proclaimed.
That will be next Monday." "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with ayawn.
"That is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters ofimportance to look into just at present.
Your Majesty will, ofcourse, stay in London for the present?" "Certainly.
You will find me at the Langham under the nameof the Count Von Kramm." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how weprogress." "Pray do so.
I shall be all anxiety." "Then, as to money?" "You have carte blanche." "Absolutely?" "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of mykingdom to have that photograph." "And for present expenses?" The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under hiscloak and laid it on the table.
"There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred innotes," he said.
Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book andhanded it to him.
"And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked.
"Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St.
John's Wood." Holmes took a note of it.
"One other question," said he."Was the photograph a cabinet?" "It was." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shallsoon have some good news for you.
And good-night, Watson," headded, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street."If you wlll be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at threeo'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmeshad not yet returned.
The landlady informed me that he had leftthe house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning.
I sat downbeside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him,however long he might be.
I was already deeply interested in hisinquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim andstrange features which were associated with the two crimeswhich I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case andthe exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own.Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which myfriend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp ofa situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it apleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow thequick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most inextri-cable mysteries.
So accustomed was I to his invariable successthat the very possibility of his failing had ceased to enter into myhead.
It was close upon four before the door opened, and a drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an inflamedface and disreputable clothes, walked into the room.
Accustomedas I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of disguises, Ihad to look three times before I was certain that it was indeed he.With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he emerged infive minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old.
Putting hishands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in front of thefire and laughed heartily for some minutes.
"Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughedagain until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in thechair.
"What is it?" "It's quite too funny.
I am sure you could never guess how Iemployed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "I can't imagine.
I suppose that you have been watching thehabits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual.
I will tell you,however.
I left the house a little after eight o'clock this morningin the character of a groom out of work.
There is a wonderfulsympathy and freemasonry among horsy men.
Be one of them,and you will know all that there is to know.
I soon foundBriony Lodge.
It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back.but built out in front right up to the road, two stories.
Chubblock to the door.
Large sitting-room on the right side, wellfurnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and thosepreposterous English window fasteners which a child could open.Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passagewindow could be reached from the top of the coach-house.
Iwalked round it and examined it closely from every point ofview, but without noting anything else of interest.
"I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, thatthere was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of thegarden.
I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses,and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, twofills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desireabout Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people inthe neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, butwhose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked.
"Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part.She is the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet.
So saythe Serpentine-mews, to a man.
She lives quietly, sings atconcerts, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharpfor dinner.
Seldom goes out at other times, except when shesings.
Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him.
He isdark, handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day,and often twice.
He is a Mr.
Godfrey Norton, of the InnerTemple.
See the advantages of a cabman as a confidant.
Theyhad driven him home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, andknew all about him.
When I had listened to all they had to tell, Ibegan to walk up and down near Briony Lodge once more, andto think over my plan of campaign.
"This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor inthe matter.
He was a lawyer.
That sounded ominous.
What wasthe relation between them, and what the object of his repeatedvisits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If theformer, she had probably transferred the photograph to his keep-ing.
If the latter, it was less likely.
On the issue of this questiondepended whether I should continue my work at Briony Lodge,or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the Temple.It was a delicate point.
and it widened the field of my inquiry.I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to let yousee my little difficulties.
if you are to understand the situation." "I am following you closely," I answered.
"I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansomcab drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out.
Hewas a remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently the man of whom I had heard.
He appeared to be ina great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed pastthe maid who opened the door with the air of a man who wasthoroughly at home.
"He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catchglimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing upand down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms.
Of her Icould see nothing.
Presently he emerged, looking even moreflurried than before.
As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled agold watch from his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive likethe devil,' he shouted, 'first to Gross Hankey's in RegentStreet, and then to the Church of St.
Monica in the EdgewareRoad.
Half a guinea if you do it in twenty minutes!' "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I shouldnot do well to follow them when up the lane came a neat littlelandau, the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and histie under his ear, while all the tags of his harness were stickingout of the buckles.
It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of thehall door and into it.
I only caught a glimpse of her at themoment, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a manmight die for.
" 'The Church of St.
Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half asovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "This was quite too good to lose, Watson.
I was just balanc-ing whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behindher landau when a cab came through the street.
The driverlooked twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before hecould object.
'The Church of St.
Monica,' said I, 'and half asovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-fiveminutes to twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was inthe wind.
"My cabby drove fast.
I don't think I ever drove faster, butthe others were there before us.
The cab and the landau withtheir steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived.
Ipaid the man and hurried into the church.
There was not a soulthere save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergy-man, who seemed to be expostulating with them.
They were allthree standing in a knot in front of the altar.
I lounged up theside aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church.Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round tome, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he couldtowards me.
" 'Thank God,' he cried.
'You'll do.
Come! Come!' " 'What then?' I asked.
" 'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't belegal.' "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where Iwas I found myself mumbling responses which were whisperedin my ear.
and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, andgenerally assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster,to Godfrey Norton, bachelor.
