Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Bohemia - Two

At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had not yet returned. He had left shortly after eight o'clock, the landlady informed me. I sat down beside the fire, awaiting him. I was deeply interested in this inquiry. It was altogether different from the previous crimes, which I have already recorded, by its nature and the exalted station of the client gave it a character of its own. In this case, my friend had his masterly grip of the situation. His keen incisive reasoning is a pleasure to me to study his system of work; and to follow the quick subtle methods by which he untangled the most inextricable mysteries is, in fact, thrilling.

After a long wait, the door opened, and a drunken looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Accustomed to my friend's amazing skill in the use of disguises, I was certain that it was indeed he. He vanished into his bedroom, and reappeared in five minutes, tweed-suited and respectable. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in front of the fire, and laughed heartily for some minutes.

"Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked; and laughed again until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless in the chair.

"What is it?"

"It is quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I employed my morning, or what I ended by doing."

"I can't imagine I suppose that you have been watching the habits, and perhaps the house or 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 morning, in the character of a groom out of work. There is a wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but built out in front upto the road, two storey. Chubb lock to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well furnished, with long window almost to the floor, and those preposterous English window fastners which a child could open. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window could be reached from the top of the coach house. I walked round it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without noting anything else of interest.

"I then lounged down the street, and found as I expected, that there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, and I received in exchange twopence, a glass of half-and-half, two fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the neighborhood in whom I was not interested in the least, but whose biographies I was compelled to listen to."

"And what of Irene Adler?" I asked.

"Oh, she has turned all the men's head down in that part. She is the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Serpentine mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concert, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, handsome and dashing; never calls less than once a day and often twice. He is a certain Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See the advantages of a cabman as a confident. They had driven him home a dozen times from the Serpentine mews, and knew all about him. When I had listened to all that they had to tell, I began to walk up and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan of campaign.

"This Godfrey Norton was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the relation between them, and what the object of his repeated visits? Was she his client, his friend, or mistress? If the former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this question depended 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 you see 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 hansom cab drove upto Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a handsome man, dark, aquiline and moustached -- evidently the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in great hurry, shouted the cab man to wait, and brushed past the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly at home.

"He was in the house half an hour, and I could catch glimpses of him, in the windows of the sitting room, pacing up and down, talking excitedly and waving his arms. Of her I could see nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from his pocket and looked at it earnestly. "Drive like a devil," he shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent-street, and then to the church of St Monica in the Edgeware road. Half a guinea if you do it in twenty minutes!' "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do well to follow them, when up the lane a  neat Landau, the coachman with his coat only half buttoned, and his tie under his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of his buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall door into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for.

" 'The Church of St Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.'

"This was quite too good to lose, Watson, I was just balancing whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her landau, when a cab came through the street. The driver looked twice at such a shabby fare; but I jumped in before he could object, 'the Church of St Monica,' I said, 'and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty five minutes to twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind.

"My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the others were there before us. The cab and the Landau with their steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid the man, and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there, save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Suddenly, to my surprise, three at the altar faced round to me, and Godfrey Norton came running as far as he could towards me."

"Thank God!" he cried. "You'll do. Come! Come!"

"What then?" I asked.

"Come man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal."

"I was half dragged up to the altar, and, before I knew where I was I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side, and the lady on the other, while the clergy man beamed on me in front. It was the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just now. It seems that there had been some informality about their licence, that the clergy man absolutely refused to marry them without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean to wear it on my watch chain in memory of the occasion."

"A very unexpected turn of affairs," said I.

"Well, I found my plans seriously menaced. It looked as if the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church door, however, they seperated, he driving back to the Temple, and she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove away in different directions, and I went off to make my own arrangements."

"Which are?"

"Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered ringing the bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want your co-operation."

"I shall be delighted."

"You don't mind breaking the law?"

"Not in the least."

"Nor running a chance of arrest?"

"Not in a good cause."

"Oh, the cause is excellent!"

"Then I am your man."

"I am sure that I might rely on you."

"But what is it you wish?"

"When Mrs Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to you. Now," he said, as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must be on the scene of action. Miss Irene or Madame, rather, from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her."

"And what then?"

"You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must not interfere, come what may. You understand?"

"I am to be neutral?"

"To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the sitting room window will open. You are to station close to that window."

"Yes."

"You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you."

"Yes."

"And when I raise my hand - so - you will throw into the room what I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of fire. You quite follow me?"

"Entirely."

"It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke rocket, fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?"

"I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, and at the signal, to throw in this object, then to raise the cry of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street."

"Precisely."

"Then you may entirely rely on me."

"That is excellent. I think perhaps it is almost time that I prepared for the new role I have to play."

He disappeared into his bedroom, and returned in a few minutes in the character of an amiable simple-minded Nonconformist clergyman. With broad black hat, baggy trousers, white tie, a sympathetic smile, and a general look of peering and benevolent curiosity he looked as Mr John Hare. Not only his costume but even his expression and manner changed to suit his new role.

It was a quarter past six when we left the Baker street, and still wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, waiting for coming of its occupant. The house was just such as l had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes succinct description, but the locality appeared less private than I expected. On the contrary, a small street in a quiet neighborhood, it was remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors grinder with his wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse girl, and several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with cigars in their mouths. 

"You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of the house, "this marriage rather simplifies the matters. The photograph becomes a double edged weapon now. The chances are that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr Godfrey Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of princess. Now the question is - Where are we to find the photograph?"

"Where, indeed?"

"It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is cabinet size, too large for easy concealment about a woman's dress. She knows that the king is capable of having her waylaid and searched. Two attempts of the sort had already been made. We may take it then that she does not carry it about with her."

"Where, then?"

"Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship. She had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house."

"But it has twice been burgled."

"Pshaw! They did not know where to look."

"But where will you look?"

"I will not look."

"How then?"

"I will get her to show me."

"But she will refuse."

"She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter."

 As he spoke the gleam of sidelight of the carriage came round the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which rattled upto the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up one of the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another loafer who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors grinder, who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men who struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but, just as he reached her, he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while a number of better dressed people who had watched the scuffle without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking back into the street.

"Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked.

"He is dead," cried several voices.

"No, no, there's life in him," shouted another. "But he'll be gone before you can get him to hospital."

"He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't for him. They were a gang, and a rough one too. Ah, he is breathing now."

"He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in ma'am?"

"Surely. Bring him into the sitting room. There is a comfortable sofa. This way please."

Slowly and solemnly he was brought into Briony Lodge, and laid out in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with compuction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had entrusted to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under my ulster overcoat. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. But preventing her from injuring another.

Holmes was now in the coach, sitting up and gasping for air. A maid rushed accross and threw open the window. I saw him raise his hand, and at the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire." The word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of spectators, well dressed and ill - gentlemen, ostlers, and servant maids - joined in general shriek of "Fire." Thick clouds of smoke curled through the room, and out at the open window. I caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice of Holmes from within, assuring that it was a false alarm. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes, until we had turned down one of the quiet streets which leads towards the Edgeware-road.

"You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. Nothing could have been better. It is all right."

"You have the photograph!"

"I know where it is."

"And how did you find out?"

"She showed me, as I told that she would."

"I am still in the dark."

"I do not wish to make a mystery," said he laughing. "The matter was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening."

"I guessed as much."

"Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick."

"That also I could fathom."

"Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else could she do? And into her sitting room, which was the very room which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your chance."

"How did that help you?"

"It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Darlington Substitution Scandal it was of use to me, also in the Arms-worth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby - an unmarried one reaches for her jewel box. Now it is clear to me that our lady of today had nothing in the house more precious than what we in quest for. She would rush to secure it. The alarm of fire was admirable and in time. The smoke and shouting were enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the right bell pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a glimpse of it, as she half drew it out. When I cried out that it is a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had come in, and, as he was watching me narrowly, it seemed safer to wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all."

"And now?"

"Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the king tomorrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be shown into the sitting room to wait for the lady, but it is probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the photograph. It might be satisfaction to his Majesty to regain it with his own hands."

"And when will you call?"

"At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for the marriage may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to the king without delay."

We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was searching his pocket for the key, when someone passing said:- 

"Good night Mr Sherlock Holmes."

"There were several people on the pavement at that time, but the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had hurried by.

"I' ve heard the voice before," said Holmes staring down the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the duece that could have been."

End of Part Two.

 

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1. Bijou villa = A small and attractive villa. Bijou is a French word meaning jewel.

2. Mews = a row or Street of houses or flats that have been converted from stables 

Or it may be a group of stable, typically with rooms above, built around a yard or along an alley.

3. Hansom: Two-wheeled horse-drawn cab accommodatig two inside, with the driver seated  behind.

4. Landau: Four wheeled, horse drawn enclosed carriage with a removable front cover and a back cover that can be raised and lowered.

5. John Hare: An English actor and theatre manager of late nineteenth and early twentieth century.