June 9, 2025 • 45 mins
Dive into the riveting world of the legendary detective, Sherlock Holmes, in this second compilation of short stories penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Explore 12 enthralling adventures, serialized in The Strand from December 1892 to December 1893, each masterfully illustrated by Sidney Paget. Join Holmes and his faithful companion, Dr. Watson, as they unravel the mysteries that baffle Londons finest. - Summary by David Clarke
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Adventure number eleven in the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This LibriVox recording is in the
public domain Adventure eleven, The Final Problem. It is with
a heavy heart that I take up my pen to
write these the last words in which I shall ever
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record the singular gifts by which my friend, mister Sherlock
Holmes was distinguished in an incoherent and, as I deeply feel,
an entirely inadequate fashion. I have endeavored to give some
account of my strange experiences in his company, from the
chance which first brought us together at the period of
the study in Scarlet, up to the time of his
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interference in the matter of the Naval Treaty, an interference
which had the unquestionable effect of preventing a serious international complication.
It was my intention to have stopped there and to
have said nothing of that event, which has created a
void in my life which the lapse of two years
has done little to fill. My hand has been forced, however,
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by the recent letters in which Colonel James Moriarty defends
the memory of his brother, and I have no choice
but to lay the facts before the public exactly as
they occurred. I alone know the absolute truth of the matter,
and I am satisfied that the time has come when
no good purpose is to be served by its suppression.
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As far as I know, there have been only three
accounts in the public press, that in the Jean Val
de Geneve on May sixth, eighteen ninety one, the Reuter's
Dispatch in the English papers on May seventh, and finally
the recent letter to which I have alluded. Of these,
the first and second were extremely condensed, while the last is,
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as I shall now show, an absolute perversion of the facts.
It lies with me to tell for the first time
what really took place between Professor Moriarty and mister Sherlock Holmes.
It may be remembered that after my marriage and my
subsequent start in private practice, the very intimate relations which
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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 investigation, but these occasions
grew more and more seldom, until I found that in
the year eighteen ninety there were only three cases of
which I retain any record. During the winter of that
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year and the early spring of eighteen ninety one. I
saw in the papers that he had been engaged by
the French government upon a matter of supreme importance, and
I received two notes from Homes dated from Nalbourne and
from nim 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
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my consulting room upon the evening of April twenty fourth.
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 shutters? The only light in the room came from
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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
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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 soothing influence was grateful to him.
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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,
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you see, said he, smiling. On the contrary, it is
solid enough for a man to break his hand. Over
is missus Watson in she is away upon a visit. Indeed,
you are alone quite then it makes it easier for
me to propose that you should come away with me
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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 appearances,
a most brilliant career before him. But the man had
hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind. A criminal strain
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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
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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
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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 forgery cases, robberies, murders.
I have felt the presence of this force, and I
have deduced its action in many of those undiscovered crimes
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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.
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He is the Napoleon of crime Watson. He is the
organizer of half that is evil, 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
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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
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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 defense. 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
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my whole energy to exposing and breaking up. But the
Professor was fenced around 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
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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
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have woven my net around 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.
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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
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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
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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
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I must confess to a start. When I saw the
very man who been so much in my thoughts standing
there on my threshold, his appearance was quite familiar to me.
He is extremely tall and thin. His forehead domes in
a white curve, and his two eyes are deeply sunken
in his head. He's clean shaven, pale, and acetic looking,
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retaining something of the Professor in his features. His shoulders
around it 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
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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
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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 this 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
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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,
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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 she had
scribbled some dates. You crussed my path on the fourth
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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 hampered in
my plans. And now at the close of April I
find myself placed in such a position through your continual persecution,
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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, mister Holmes, said, he,
swaying his face about you really must you know after Monday?
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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.
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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. That is
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not danger, said he, It is inevitable destruction. You stand
in the way not merely of an individual, but of
a mighty organization, the full extent of which you, with
all your cleverness, have been unable to realize. You must
stand clear, mister Holmes, or be trodden under foot. I
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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.
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I know every move of your game. You can do
nothing before Monday. It has been a duel between you
and me. Mister 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
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clever enough to bring destruction upon me. Rest assured that
I shall do as much to you. You have paid
me several compliments, mister 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
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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
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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've already been assaulted, my dear Watson.
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Professor Moriarty is not a man who lets the grass
grow under his feet. I went out about midday 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 hall horse van furiously driven, whizzed
round and was on me like a flash. I sprang
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for the footpath and saved myself by the fraction of
a second. The van dashed around by Marlebourne Lane and
was gone in an instant. I kept the pavement after that, Watson,
but as I walked down Via Street, a brick came
down from the roof of one of the houses and
was shattered to fragments. At my feet. I called the
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police and had the place examined. There were slates and
bricks piled up on the roof, preparatory to some repairs,
and they would of 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
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I spent the day. Now I have come round to you,
and on my way I was attacked by a ruff
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
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is I dare say, working out problems upon a blackboard
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,
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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
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that they can move without my help as far as
the arrest goes, though my 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 would
come on to the continent with me. The practice is quiet,
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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
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cleverest rogue 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 thither the first nor the second,
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which may present itself into this hansom, you will jump,
and you will drive to the strand end of the
louther arcade, handing the address to the cabman upon a
slip of paper, with a request that you will not
throw it away, have your fare ready, and the instant
that your cab stops dashed through the arcade, timing yourself
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to reach the other side. At a quarter past nine,
you will find a small bruugham 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
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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 thought he might
bring trouble to the roof he was under, and that
that was the motive which impelled him to go. With
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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 injunction to
the letter, a hansom was procured with such precaution as
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would prevent its being one which was placed ready for us,
and I drove immediately after breakfast to the louther arcade,
through which I hurried at the top of my speed.
Abruugham 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.
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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.
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My only source of anxiety now was the non appearance
of homes. The station clock marked only seven minutes from
the time when we were due to start in Vain.
I searched among the groups of travelers and leave takers
for the lithe figure of my friend. There was no
sign of him. I spent a few minutes in assisting
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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 around, 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
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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 shrugged 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
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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 condescended to say good morning,
I turned in uncontrollable astonishment. The aged ecclesiastic had turned
his face towards me. For an instant. The wrinkles were
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smoothed away, the nose drew away from the chin, the
lower lips ceased to protrude, and the mouth to mumble.
The dull eyes regained their fire. The drooping figure expanded.
The next the whole frame collapsed again, and Home said,
gone as quickly as he had come. Good Heavens, I cried,
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how you startle 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 spoke. Glancing back, I
saw a tall man pushing his way furiously through the crowd,
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and waving his hand as if he desired to have
the train stopped. It was too late, however, for we
were rapidly gathering momentum, 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
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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 Baker 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
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have lost my track completely after their bludgeon man 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 Bruham, Yes,
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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
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as the boat runs in connection with it, I should
think we've 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
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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
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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
dart right and left out of the net. On Monday.
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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 new
Haven and so over to Dieppe. Moriarty will again do
what I should do. He will get on to Paris,
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mark down our luggage and wait for two days at
the depot. In the meantime we shall treat ourselves to
a couple of carpet bags. Encourage the manufacturers of the
countries through which we travel, and make our way at
our leisure into Switzerland via Luxembourg and Basel. At Canterbury, therefore,
we are lighted, only to find that we should have
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to wait an hour before we could get a train
to New Haven. I was still looking rather ruefully after
the rapidly disappearing luggage van which contained my wardrobe, when
Holmes pulled my sleeve and pointed up the line. Already,
you see, he said he Far away from among the
Kentish woods, there rose a thin spray of smoke. A
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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 rattle and a roar,
beating a blast of hot air into our faces. There
he goes, said Holmes, as we watched the carriage swing
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and rock over the points. There are limits, you see
to our friend's intelligence. It would have been a kurummetre
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
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game at which two may play. The question now is
whether we should take a premature lunch here or run
our chin of starving. Before we reached the buffet at
new Haven, 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
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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,
hurled it into the grate. I might have known it,
he groaned. He has escaped, Moriarty. They have secured the
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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
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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
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to be successful with one who was an old campaigner
as well as an old friend. We sat in the
Strasbourg Sala Manges 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
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branching off at Luke, we made our way over the
Gemmy Pass, still deep in snow, and so by way
of Interlaken to Meyringen. It was a lovely trip, the
dainty green of the spring below, the virgin white of
the winter above. But it was clear to me that
never for one instant did Holmes forget the shadow which
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lay across him in the homely alpine villages or in
the lonely mountain passes. I could tell, by his quick
glancing eyes and his sharp scrutiny 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
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we passed over the Gemmy and walked along the border
of the Melancholy Daubensee, a large rock which had been
dislodged from the ridge upon our right, clattered 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
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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
fulfillment of that which he had expected. And yet for
all his watchfulness, he was never depressed. On the contrary,
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I can never recollect having seen him in such exuberant spirits.
Again and again he recurred 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 as far as to say, Watson,
that I have not lived wholly in vain. He remarked,
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if my record were closed to night, I could still
survey it with equanimity. 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 tempted
to look into the problems furnished by nature, rather than
those more superficial ones for which our artificial state of
(33:56):
society is responsible. Your memoirs will draw to an end, Watson,
upon the day that I crown my career by the
capture or extinction of the most dangerous and capable criminal
in Europe. I shall be brief and yet exact in
the little which remains for me to tell. It is
(34:16):
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 Meyringen, where
we put up at the englisher Hoof, then kept by
Peter Scheiler, the elder. Our landlord was an intelligent man
(34:38):
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 Rosenlowis. We had strict injunctions, however,
on no account to past the falls of Reichenbach, which
(35:02):
are about half way up the hill, without making a
small detour to see them. It is indeed a fearful place.
The torrent, swollen by the melting snow, plunges into a
tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up like the
smoke from a burning house. The shaft into which the
(35:22):
river hurls itself is an immense chasm, lined by glistening coal,
black rock, and narrowing into a creaming, boiling pit of
incalculable depth, which brims over and shoots the stream onward
over its jagged lip. The long sweep of green water
roaring forever down, and the thick, flickering curtain of spray
(35:44):
hissing forever upward, turn a man giddy with their constant
whirl and clamor. 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 half way round
(36:07):
the fall to afford a complete view, but it ends
abruptly and the traveler 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
(36:29):
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 consolation to her to
(36:50):
see an English doctor, and if I would only return,
et cetera. The good styler assured me in a PostScript
that he would look upon my compliance as a very
great favor. Since the lady absolutely refused to see a
Swiss physician, and he could not but feel that he
was incurring a great responsibility. The appeal was one which
(37:14):
could not be ignored. It was impossible to refuse the
request of a fellow country woman dying in a strange land.
Yet I had my scruples 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 Meydingen. My friend would stay some little time at
(37:37):
the fall, he said, and would then walk slowly over
the hill to Rosenlwy, 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 destined to see of
(37:58):
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
hill and leads to it. Along this a man was,
I remember, walking very rapidly. I could see this black
(38:19):
figure clearly outlined against the green. Behind him. I noted
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 myringhen Old Stuyler was standing at
the porch of his hotel. Well, said I, as I
(38:40):
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 eyebrows, 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 a hotel. Certainly not, he cried. But it
(39:04):
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 explanations. In a tingle of fear. I
was already running down the village street and making for
the path which I had so lately descended. It had
(39:24):
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 Holme'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
(39:46):
own voice, reverberating 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 rosen Lowy. 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.
(40:10):
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
moment or two to collect myself, for I was dazed
with the horror of the thing. Then I began to
(40:30):
think of Holmes's own methods, and to try to practice
them in reading this tragedy. It was alas 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 incessant drift of spray
(40:53):
and a bird would leave its tread upon it. Two
lines of footmarks were clearly marked along the farther end
of the both leading away from me. There were none returning.
A few yards from the end, the soil was all
plowed up into a patch of mud, and the branches
and ferns which fringed the chasm were torn and bedraggled.
(41:16):
I lay upon my face and peered over, with the
spray spouting 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 the
(41:37):
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 jutted on
to the path from the top of this boulder. The
gleam of something bright caught my eye and ran raising
(42:00):
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 note book and addressed to me. It was characteristic
(42:22):
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 mister Moriarty,
who awaits my convenience for the final discussion of those
questions which lie between us. He has been giving me
(42:43):
a sketch of the methods by which he avoided the
English Police and kept himself informed of our movements. They
certainly confirmed 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 effect
of his presence, though I fear that it is at
a cost which will give pain to my friends, and
(43:06):
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 confession to you. I was
quite convinced that the letter from Meyringen was a hoax,
(43:28):
and I allowed you to depart on that errand under
the persuasion that some development of this sort would follow.
Tell Inspector Patterson that the papers which he needs to
convict the gang are in Pigeonhole, m done up in
a blue envelope and inscribed Moriarty. I made every disposition
of my property before leaving England, and handed it to
(43:51):
my brother Microft. Pray, give my greetings to missus Watson,
and believe me to be my dear fellow, very cerely
your's 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,
(44:14):
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 swirling water and
seething foam, will lie for all time the most dangerous
(44:35):
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,
(44:59):
and and how heavily the hand of the dead man
weighed upon them of their terrible chief. Few details came
out during the proceedings, And if I have now been
compelled to make a clear statement of his career, it
is due to those injudicious champions who have endeavored to
clear his memory by attacks upon him, whom I shall
(45:20):
ever regard as the best and the wisest man whom
I have ever known. End of the Final Problem and
of the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
(45:41):
David Clark, BG David dot WordPress dot com and BG
Coffee dot Net. I appreciate your time, Thank you for listening.
Adventure number eleven in the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This LibriVox recording is in the
public domain Adventure eleven, The Final Problem. It is with
a heavy heart that I take up my pen to
write these the last words in which I shall ever
(00:21):
record the singular gifts by which my friend, mister Sherlock
Holmes was distinguished in an incoherent and, as I deeply feel,
an entirely inadequate fashion. I have endeavored to give some
account of my strange experiences in his company, from the
chance which first brought us together at the period of
the study in Scarlet, up to the time of his
(00:43):
interference in the matter of the Naval Treaty, an interference
which had the unquestionable effect of preventing a serious international complication.
It was my intention to have stopped there and to
have said nothing of that event, which has created a
void in my life which the lapse of two years
has done little to fill. My hand has been forced, however,
(01:06):
by the recent letters in which Colonel James Moriarty defends
the memory of his brother, and I have no choice
but to lay the facts before the public exactly as
they occurred. I alone know the absolute truth of the matter,
and I am satisfied that the time has come when
no good purpose is to be served by its suppression.
(01:26):
As far as I know, there have been only three
accounts in the public press, that in the Jean Val
de Geneve on May sixth, eighteen ninety one, the Reuter's
Dispatch in the English papers on May seventh, and finally
the recent letter to which I have alluded. Of these,
the first and second were extremely condensed, while the last is,
(01:50):
as I shall now show, an absolute perversion of the facts.
It lies with me to tell for the first time
what really took place between Professor Moriarty and mister Sherlock Holmes.
It may be remembered that after my marriage and my
subsequent start in private practice, the very intimate relations which
(02:10):
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 investigation, but these occasions
grew more and more seldom, until I found that in
the year eighteen ninety there were only three cases of
which I retain any record. During the winter of that
(02:33):
year and the early spring of eighteen ninety one. I
saw in the papers that he had been engaged by
the French government upon a matter of supreme importance, and
I received two notes from Homes dated from Nalbourne and
from nim 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
(02:56):
my consulting room upon the evening of April twenty fourth.
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 shutters? The only light in the room came from
(03:19):
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
(03:41):
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 soothing influence was grateful to him.
(04:03):
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,
(04:28):
you see, said he, smiling. On the contrary, it is
solid enough for a man to break his hand. Over
is missus Watson in she is away upon a visit. Indeed,
you are alone quite then it makes it easier for
me to propose that you should come away with me
(04:49):
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
(05:11):
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
(05:32):
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
(05:53):
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
(06:13):
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.
(06:35):
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 appearances,
a most brilliant career before him. But the man had
hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind. A criminal strain
(06:58):
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
(07:19):
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
(07:41):
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 forgery cases, robberies, murders.
I have felt the presence of this force, and I
have deduced its action in many of those undiscovered crimes
(08:02):
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.
(08:22):
He is the Napoleon of crime Watson. He is the
organizer of half that is evil, 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
(08:45):
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
(09:05):
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 defense. 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
(09:28):
my whole energy to exposing and breaking up. But the
Professor was fenced around 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
(09:51):
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
(10:13):
have woven my net around 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.
(10:37):
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
(11:00):
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
(11:20):
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
(11:45):
I must confess to a start. When I saw the
very man who been so much in my thoughts standing
there on my threshold, his appearance was quite familiar to me.
He is extremely tall and thin. His forehead domes in
a white curve, and his two eyes are deeply sunken
in his head. He's clean shaven, pale, and acetic looking,
(12:09):
retaining something of the Professor in his features. His shoulders
around it 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
(12:30):
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
(12:51):
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 this 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
(13:12):
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,
(13:33):
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 she had
scribbled some dates. You crussed my path on the fourth
(13:56):
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 hampered in
my plans. And now at the close of April I
find myself placed in such a position through your continual persecution,
(14:18):
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, mister Holmes, said, he,
swaying his face about you really must you know after Monday?
(14:39):
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.
(15:01):
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. That is
(15:25):
not danger, said he, It is inevitable destruction. You stand
in the way not merely of an individual, but of
a mighty organization, the full extent of which you, with
all your cleverness, have been unable to realize. You must
stand clear, mister Holmes, or be trodden under foot. I
(15:49):
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.
(16:13):
I know every move of your game. You can do
nothing before Monday. It has been a duel between you
and me. Mister 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
(16:34):
clever enough to bring destruction upon me. Rest assured that
I shall do as much to you. You have paid
me several compliments, mister 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
(16:58):
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
(17:19):
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've already been assaulted, my dear Watson.
(17:43):
Professor Moriarty is not a man who lets the grass
grow under his feet. I went out about midday 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 hall horse van furiously driven, whizzed
round and was on me like a flash. I sprang
(18:05):
for the footpath and saved myself by the fraction of
a second. The van dashed around by Marlebourne Lane and
was gone in an instant. I kept the pavement after that, Watson,
but as I walked down Via Street, a brick came
down from the roof of one of the houses and
was shattered to fragments. At my feet. I called the
(18:26):
police and had the place examined. There were slates and
bricks piled up on the roof, preparatory to some repairs,
and they would of 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
(18:47):
I spent the day. Now I have come round to you,
and on my way I was attacked by a ruff
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
(19:11):
is I dare say, working out problems upon a blackboard
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,
(19:34):
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
(19:55):
that they can move without my help as far as
the arrest goes, though my 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 would
come on to the continent with me. The practice is quiet,
(20:19):
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
(20:41):
cleverest rogue 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 thither the first nor the second,
(21:01):
which may present itself into this hansom, you will jump,
and you will drive to the strand end of the
louther arcade, handing the address to the cabman upon a
slip of paper, with a request that you will not
throw it away, have your fare ready, and the instant
that your cab stops dashed through the arcade, timing yourself
(21:24):
to reach the other side. At a quarter past nine,
you will find a small bruugham 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
(21:46):
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 thought he might
bring trouble to the roof he was under, and that
that was the motive which impelled him to go. With
(22:07):
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 injunction to
the letter, a hansom was procured with such precaution as
(22:29):
would prevent its being one which was placed ready for us,
and I drove immediately after breakfast to the louther arcade,
through which I hurried at the top of my speed.
Abruugham 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.
(22:50):
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.
(23:14):
My only source of anxiety now was the non appearance
of homes. The station clock marked only seven minutes from
the time when we were due to start in Vain.
I searched among the groups of travelers and leave takers
for the lithe figure of my friend. There was no
sign of him. I spent a few minutes in assisting
(23:35):
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 around, 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
(23:58):
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 shrugged 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
(24:19):
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 condescended to say good morning,
I turned in uncontrollable astonishment. The aged ecclesiastic had turned
his face towards me. For an instant. The wrinkles were
(24:43):
smoothed away, the nose drew away from the chin, the
lower lips ceased to protrude, and the mouth to mumble.
The dull eyes regained their fire. The drooping figure expanded.
The next the whole frame collapsed again, and Home said,
gone as quickly as he had come. Good Heavens, I cried,
(25:05):
how you startle 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 spoke. Glancing back, I
saw a tall man pushing his way furiously through the crowd,
(25:27):
and waving his hand as if he desired to have
the train stopped. It was too late, however, for we
were rapidly gathering momentum, 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
(25:49):
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 Baker 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
(26:12):
have lost my track completely after their bludgeon man 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 Bruham, Yes,
(26:36):
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
(26:57):
as the boat runs in connection with it, I should
think we've 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
(27:18):
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
(27:41):
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
dart right and left out of the net. On Monday.
(28:01):
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 new
Haven and so over to Dieppe. Moriarty will again do
what I should do. He will get on to Paris,
(28:22):
mark down our luggage and wait for two days at
the depot. In the meantime we shall treat ourselves to
a couple of carpet bags. Encourage the manufacturers of the
countries through which we travel, and make our way at
our leisure into Switzerland via Luxembourg and Basel. At Canterbury, therefore,
we are lighted, only to find that we should have
(28:44):
to wait an hour before we could get a train
to New Haven. I was still looking rather ruefully after
the rapidly disappearing luggage van which contained my wardrobe, when
Holmes pulled my sleeve and pointed up the line. Already,
you see, he said he Far away from among the
Kentish woods, there rose a thin spray of smoke. A
(29:07):
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 rattle and a roar,
beating a blast of hot air into our faces. There
he goes, said Holmes, as we watched the carriage swing
(29:28):
and rock over the points. There are limits, you see
to our friend's intelligence. It would have been a kurummetre
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
(29:52):
game at which two may play. The question now is
whether we should take a premature lunch here or run
our chin of starving. Before we reached the buffet at
new Haven, 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
(30:13):
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,
hurled it into the grate. I might have known it,
he groaned. He has escaped, Moriarty. They have secured the
(30:35):
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
(30:57):
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
(31:20):
to be successful with one who was an old campaigner
as well as an old friend. We sat in the
Strasbourg Sala Manges 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
(31:41):
branching off at Luke, we made our way over the
Gemmy Pass, still deep in snow, and so by way
of Interlaken to Meyringen. It was a lovely trip, the
dainty green of the spring below, the virgin white of
the winter above. But it was clear to me that
never for one instant did Holmes forget the shadow which
(32:02):
lay across him in the homely alpine villages or in
the lonely mountain passes. I could tell, by his quick
glancing eyes and his sharp scrutiny 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
(32:25):
we passed over the Gemmy and walked along the border
of the Melancholy Daubensee, a large rock which had been
dislodged from the ridge upon our right, clattered 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
(32:46):
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
fulfillment of that which he had expected. And yet for
all his watchfulness, he was never depressed. On the contrary,
(33:10):
I can never recollect having seen him in such exuberant spirits.
Again and again he recurred 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 as far as to say, Watson,
that I have not lived wholly in vain. He remarked,
(33:32):
if my record were closed to night, I could still
survey it with equanimity. 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 tempted
to look into the problems furnished by nature, rather than
those more superficial ones for which our artificial state of
(33:56):
society is responsible. Your memoirs will draw to an end, Watson,
upon the day that I crown my career by the
capture or extinction of the most dangerous and capable criminal
in Europe. I shall be brief and yet exact in
the little which remains for me to tell. It is
(34:16):
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 Meyringen, where
we put up at the englisher Hoof, then kept by
Peter Scheiler, the elder. Our landlord was an intelligent man
(34:38):
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 Rosenlowis. We had strict injunctions, however,
on no account to past the falls of Reichenbach, which
(35:02):
are about half way up the hill, without making a
small detour to see them. It is indeed a fearful place.
The torrent, swollen by the melting snow, plunges into a
tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up like the
smoke from a burning house. The shaft into which the
(35:22):
river hurls itself is an immense chasm, lined by glistening coal,
black rock, and narrowing into a creaming, boiling pit of
incalculable depth, which brims over and shoots the stream onward
over its jagged lip. The long sweep of green water
roaring forever down, and the thick, flickering curtain of spray
(35:44):
hissing forever upward, turn a man giddy with their constant
whirl and clamor. 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 half way round
(36:07):
the fall to afford a complete view, but it ends
abruptly and the traveler 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
(36:29):
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 consolation to her to
(36:50):
see an English doctor, and if I would only return,
et cetera. The good styler assured me in a PostScript
that he would look upon my compliance as a very
great favor. Since the lady absolutely refused to see a
Swiss physician, and he could not but feel that he
was incurring a great responsibility. The appeal was one which
(37:14):
could not be ignored. It was impossible to refuse the
request of a fellow country woman dying in a strange land.
Yet I had my scruples 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 Meydingen. My friend would stay some little time at
(37:37):
the fall, he said, and would then walk slowly over
the hill to Rosenlwy, 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 destined to see of
(37:58):
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
hill and leads to it. Along this a man was,
I remember, walking very rapidly. I could see this black
(38:19):
figure clearly outlined against the green. Behind him. I noted
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 myringhen Old Stuyler was standing at
the porch of his hotel. Well, said I, as I
(38:40):
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 eyebrows, 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 a hotel. Certainly not, he cried. But it
(39:04):
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 explanations. In a tingle of fear. I
was already running down the village street and making for
the path which I had so lately descended. It had
(39:24):
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 Holme'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
(39:46):
own voice, reverberating 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 rosen Lowy. 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.
(40:10):
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
moment or two to collect myself, for I was dazed
with the horror of the thing. Then I began to
(40:30):
think of Holmes's own methods, and to try to practice
them in reading this tragedy. It was alas 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 incessant drift of spray
(40:53):
and a bird would leave its tread upon it. Two
lines of footmarks were clearly marked along the farther end
of the both leading away from me. There were none returning.
A few yards from the end, the soil was all
plowed up into a patch of mud, and the branches
and ferns which fringed the chasm were torn and bedraggled.
(41:16):
I lay upon my face and peered over, with the
spray spouting 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 the
(41:37):
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 jutted on
to the path from the top of this boulder. The
gleam of something bright caught my eye and ran raising
(42:00):
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 note book and addressed to me. It was characteristic
(42:22):
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 mister Moriarty,
who awaits my convenience for the final discussion of those
questions which lie between us. He has been giving me
(42:43):
a sketch of the methods by which he avoided the
English Police and kept himself informed of our movements. They
certainly confirmed 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 effect
of his presence, though I fear that it is at
a cost which will give pain to my friends, and
(43:06):
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 confession to you. I was
quite convinced that the letter from Meyringen was a hoax,
(43:28):
and I allowed you to depart on that errand under
the persuasion that some development of this sort would follow.
Tell Inspector Patterson that the papers which he needs to
convict the gang are in Pigeonhole, m done up in
a blue envelope and inscribed Moriarty. I made every disposition
of my property before leaving England, and handed it to
(43:51):
my brother Microft. Pray, give my greetings to missus Watson,
and believe me to be my dear fellow, very cerely
your's 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,
(44:14):
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 swirling water and
seething foam, will lie for all time the most dangerous
(44:35):
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,
(44:59):
and and how heavily the hand of the dead man
weighed upon them of their terrible chief. Few details came
out during the proceedings, And if I have now been
compelled to make a clear statement of his career, it
is due to those injudicious champions who have endeavored to
clear his memory by attacks upon him, whom I shall
(45:20):
ever regard as the best and the wisest man whom
I have ever known. End of the Final Problem and
of the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
(45:41):
David Clark, BG David dot WordPress dot com and BG
Coffee dot Net. I appreciate your time, Thank you for listening.
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