The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 84 Memoirs (13) ([-])
It was all very queer, for Holmes never liked to take aimless holidays, and his pale, haggard face gave me the impression that his nerves were strained to the extreme.Holmes read the doubt in my eyes, and with his fingers interlocked and his elbows on his knees, he explained.

"You've probably never heard of Professor Moriarty?" he said.

"there has never been."

"Oh, what a genius and a miracle!" cried Holmes. "This man has power all over London, and yet no one has ever heard of him. This makes his criminal record run rampant. I tell you solemnly." , if I can defeat him, if I can get rid of him as a scum for the society, then I will feel that my career has reached the peak, and then I am ready to change to a quieter life. One thing please Don't tell outsiders, my recent cases for the Scandinavian royal family and the French Republic have created good conditions for me to live a quiet life that I like, and to concentrate on my work. But once I think that a man like Professor Moriarty is still running rampant in the streets of London, I can't rest easy, I can't just sit in an easy chair and do nothing."

"What evil has he done?"

"His curriculum vitae is extraordinary. He is superbly educated and has an extraordinary gift for mathematics. At the age of 21 he wrote a treatise on the binomial theorem which was all the rage in Europe. With this, he is in our Professorships in Mathematics at some small college, and it was evident that he had a bright future. But this man inherited the most vicious nature of his ancestors. The criminal blood running in his blood not only did not lessen, but because of his extraordinary Intelligence, on the contrary, got worse and became even more dangerous. Some of his misdeeds were also circulating in the university area. He was finally forced to resign from his professorship and came to London to be a military instructor. People only know about him, but What I am going to tell you now is what I have discovered myself.

"No one knows better than I do the high-level crimes in London. In recent years, I have been aware that there is a force behind these criminals, a force of evil that always stands in the way of the law, sheltering those Evildoers. The cases I investigate are varied, forgery, robbery, murder... I feel the existence of this force again and again, and use my reasoning method to discover that this force is also involved I have uncovered some unsolved crimes, although I have not personally been invited to investigate these cases. For many years, I have tried my best to uncover the shady power of this force, and this moment has finally arrived. I seized the clues, followed them, and found The mathematics celebrity and retired professor Moriarty.

"He was the Napoleon of crime. He organized half the crime in London, almost all the crime that went unsolved. He was a genius, a philosopher, a deep thinker. He had a human A first-rate mind. He is like a spider crouching in the center of a web, motionless, but the web has thousands of threads, and he knows every tremor in it. He rarely does anything himself, but advises. His There are many party members and strict organization. We say that if someone wants to commit a crime, steal documents, rob a family, or assassinate a person, he only needs to pass a word to the professor, and he will organize it carefully and implement it. His party members even arrested, and he has the money to bail them out, or defend them. But the main people who command these henchmen have never been arrested, not even suspected. That's how I deduce their organization, I've been in Do your best to expose and crack this organization.

"The defenses surrounding this professor were so tight and cunning that, despite my best efforts, I was unable to obtain evidence that would bring him to court. After three months of hard work, I have to admit that I came across a man of intellect and My equal opponent. I admire his skills more than I hate his crimes. But he finally made a mistake, a very small mistake, but when I watched him so closely, this He can't make a mistake. I've seized my chance, and from this point on, I've laid the net around him, and it's all ready to be closed. In three days, that is, next week, The time will be ripe, and the professor and his gang of main henchmen will all fall into the net of justice. At that time, the largest trial of criminals in this century will be held, more than 40 unresolved cases will be clarified, and they will all be sentenced Hanging. But if we act poorly, they may even slip away from us at the last moment.

"Well, if I could make it so that Professor Moriarty didn't notice, then everything would go a little better. But Moriarty is so cunning that every step I make of my net around him, He knew it all. He tried his best to escape through the net again and again, and I stopped him again and again. My friend, if the details of my secret struggle with him were recorded, it would be recorded in the annals of detectives. I also Never been this high, never been pressed so hard by an opponent. He did it almost watertight, and I just passed him. This morning, I made the final deployment, and it only takes three days to put the This matter is over. When I was sitting in the room thinking about it, the door suddenly opened, and Professor Moriarty stood in front of me.

"I am quite unflappable, Watson, though I must confess that I was taken aback when I saw standing on the threshold the man who had so troubled me. I knew his features well. He was of stature." Very tall, lean, with a protruding forehead, deep-set eyes, clean-shaven, pale, with a certain professorial air. His shoulders were stooped, his face stretched forward, and swayed slightly from side to side. More than that, he looked weird. He squinted his eyes and looked at me very curiously.

"'Your forehead is not as developed as I thought it to be, sir,' he said at last. 'It is a dangerous habit to play with a loaded pistol in the pocket of your pajamas.'

"In fact, when he came in, I realized that I was in great personal danger. For him, the only way out of the predicament was to kill me. So, I hurriedly grabbed the pistol from the drawer and slipped it into the pocket, and pointed it at him through the clothes. As soon as he said that, I took out the pistol, opened the nose, and put it on the table. He was still smiling and squinting, but there was an expression in his eyes Makes me secretly glad I have this pistol on hand.

"'You don't know me, obviously,' said he.

"'On the contrary,' I replied, 'I think I know you very well. Please sit down and I can give you five minutes.'

"'You already know what I'm going to say,' said he.

"'Then you already know my answer, too,' I replied.

"'You won't budge?'

"'Never budge.'

"He threw his hands in his pockets and I grabbed the pistol that was on the table. But he just pulled out a memo with some dates scrawled on it.

"He said: 'On the 23th of January, you hindered me; on the [-]rd, you hindered me again; in the middle of February, you caused me great trouble; at the end of March, you completely ruined my plans. .At the end of April, I found that I was definitely in danger of losing my liberty because of your continual persecution. The matter was beyond me.'

"'What are you going to do?' I asked.

"'You must stop, Mr. Holmes!' said he, shaking his head from side to side. 'You really must, you know.'

"'Tell me after Monday,' I said.

"He said: 'I'm sure a smart man like you would understand that there's only one way to go. You've got to stop, and that's the only way we've got left if you screw it up. Seeing you put It is an intellectual delight to me that the matter has come to such an end. I tell you sincerely, that it would be distressing if I were compelled to take any extreme measures. Smile, sir, But I assure you, it's quite distressing.'

"'In our line of business, danger is inevitable,' said I.

"'No, it's not danger,' said he, 'it's inevitable destruction. You're not dealing with a single person, but with a powerful organization. Though you're brilliant, it's impossible for you to realize the sheer force of that organization. .You must stand aside, Mr. Holmes, or you will be trampled to death.'

"'I am afraid,' said I, rising, 'that by our talking too vigorously I shall delay some important business which I have been asked to do.'

"He also stood up, looked at me in silence, and shook his head sadly.

"He said at last: 'Well, it seems a pity, but I have done my best. I am aware of every step of your little trick. There is nothing you can do until Monday. It is a duel of life and death, Mr. Holmes. .You want to put me in the dock, I tell you it's impossible. You want to beat me, I tell you it's impossible. If you do it, I'm ruined, don't worry, You will die with me.'

"'You have been honored, Mr. Moriarty,' said I, 'and I tell you that if it would be possible to destroy you, I would, for the good of society, die with you.'

"'I promise to die with you, but you will not destroy me,' he growled, turning and going out of the house.

"That was the conversation I had with Professor Moriarty. It had an unpleasant effect on me, I admit. He spoke so calmly and clearly that one would believe he couldn't joke, that a simple villain would Not that much. Of course, you will ask why you don't have the police on him. Because I'm sure he's going to get his henchmen to kill me. I have the best evidence that it must be so."

"Have you been attacked?"

"Professor Moriarty is a man who knows his timing. At noon that day, I went to Oxford Street to deal with some business. When I passed the corner from Bentinck Street to the intersection of Welbeck Street, a two-horse van went crazy. The ground rushed towards me. I jumped onto the sidewalk and survived.

"The van was in Lieben Lane, Marylebone Lane and was flying away. After this accident, I just walked on the pavement, but when I got to Weir Street, a brick fell from the roof of a house and shattered at my feet. I called the police and checked the place. The roof was full of slabs and bricks for building repairs. They said that the wind had blown a brick down. I knew it in my heart, but I couldn't prove that someone was trying to kill me. After that I took a cab, and went to my brother's house in Pall Mall, and passed the day there. Just now, when I came to you, the mob bludgeoned me again on the road. I struck him down, The police took him into custody.

"Because I punched the man's front teeth, and the knuckles were scratched. However, I can tell you with certainty that it is impossible to find out the relationship between the detained gentleman and the retired mathematics professor. I dare It is concluded that the professor is now standing in front of a blackboard ten miles away to answer questions. Watson, when you hear this, you first close the shutters when I come to your house, and then ask you to allow me to leave by your back wall House, you won't be surprised anymore, will you?"

I have always admired the fearlessness of my friends.The series of events that took place today, taken together, is simply terrifying.And now he sat and calmly recounted the horrors of that day, and it made me admire him all the more.

"Are you spending the night here?" I asked.

"No, my friend, I will put you in danger by spending the night here. I have already drawn up a plan, and everything will go well. Things have progressed to the point where they can arrest the gangsters without my help, only in the future I still need to testify in court. Therefore, it is good for me to leave this place a few days before the arrest, so that the police can move freely. If you can travel to the mainland with me, then I will be very happy."

"Recently, the medical staff is free," I said. "I have a neighbor who is willing to help. I am honored to be with you."

"May I leave tomorrow morning?"

"If there is such a need, of course."

"Okay, very much. Well, I need to give you some orders. I beg you, to follow them to the letter, because now we are fighting to the death with the most cunning thugs and the most powerful criminal groups in Europe." Duel. Now, whatever luggage you intend to take, make sure it does not say where you are going, and send a reliable person to Victoria Station tonight. Tomorrow morning, you hire a hansom, but tell you Your servants must never hire the first and second carriages, which offer to solicit business. When you are in the hansom, you address the driver on a note, which reads "Road to Lowther Street Strand." "At the end of the street" and told him not to throw away the note. You have to pay the fare in advance, and as soon as the car stops, you cross the street and reach the other end of the street at a quarter past nine. At that time, you will see a four The chaise waited in the street, the driver in a dark black cloak with a red trim on the collar. Get in and you'll be at Victoria Station in time for the Continental Express."

"Where do I meet you?"

"At the station. Our reservation is in the second first-class car from the front to the rear."

"The carriage is where we meet?"

"Yes."

After giving a hasty account of our plans for the morrow, he got up and walked with me into the garden, over the wall to Mortimer Street, and immediately whistled for a carriage, which I heard him drive off.

Next morning I took precautions, in accordance with Holmes' instructions, in case the hired carriage was a trap set by others.

After breakfast I selected a hansom, and drove at once to Lowther Street.I run across the street.A coachman of extraordinary stature, in a black cloak, was waiting in a small carriage.I stepped into the car, and he whipped the horse immediately, and drove to Victoria Station. As soon as I stepped out of the car, he turned the front of the car and galloped away.

So far so good.My luggage was already on board, and I had no trouble finding the compartment Holmes had designated, for only one was marked "Reserved."There was only one thing that worried me now, and that was the absence of Holmes.I looked at the clock at the station, and it was only 7 minutes until the departure time.I searched for the slender figure of Holmes among the group of travelers and farewells, but there was no trace of it.An elderly Italian missionary, speaking broken English, tried to make the porter understand that his luggage was to be checked in to Paris.So, I stepped forward to help a little, and delayed for a few minutes.He looked around.I went back to the carriage to find that the porter had brought my elderly Italian friend to accompany me regardless of the ticket number.Although I explained to him that this was someone else's seat, it was useless because I spoke Italian worse than he spoke English, so I resignedly shrugged my shoulders and continued to look out anxiously, looking for my friend.Just the thought that he might have been attacked in the night to keep him from coming today gives me a shudder.

All the doors of the train were closed, the whistle sounded, and at this moment...

"My dear Watson," said a voice, "you have not yet said good morning to me."

(End of this chapter)