Sherlock Holmes Complete Works 2

Chapter 23 Memoirs 23
I write this "last case" with a heavy heart.We first met in the "Study in Scarlet" and went on to the "Navy Agreement" case.I had intended never to speak of the case which had caused me a lifelong dismay.But lately Colonel James Moriarty has published several letters in defense of his dead brother.I can only put the truth out there because he completely distorted it.

My marriage and my practice of medicine after marriage made the relationship with Holmes somewhat estranged.In the winter of 1990 and the spring of the following year, I read from the newspaper that he was invited by the French government to undertake a very important case.On the evening of April 24, [-], he came to my clinic unexpectedly.He was pale and thin-faced.

"Yeah, I've been kind of exhausted lately," he said.

He went to the window, closed the two shutters, and fastened the latches.

"Are you scared?" I asked him.

"Yes."

"Afraid of what?"

"Fear of being hit by an air gun."

"What happened?"

"I have a lot of courage, Watson. But you would be foolhardy if you did not recognize the danger at hand."

He continued: "Excuse me for the late night interruption, I ask you to make an exception and let me climb over the back wall of your garden."

"Why?" I asked him.

He held out his hand, and I saw that both of his knuckles were bleeding.

"You see, I'm not made out of nothing," he said with a smile. "Someone can break your fingers. Is your wife home?"

"No."

"Are you alone at home?"

"Yes."

"Come with me on a week's trip to the Continent?"

"Where?"

"Anywhere."

I wonder how he could be so nervous.He saw my doubts and explained:

"Professor Moriarty, you must have never heard of him?"

"No." I replied.

Holmes said: "Although this man has power all over London, no one has heard of him. His criminal record is really the best! If I can get rid of him, I will stop working. I have recently worked for the Swedish Crown and the French Republic. , doing my chemical experiments leisurely. But when I think of that scum, how can I live a quiet life?"

"So, what bad things did he do?"

"He was a man of good birth, very well educated, and had an extraordinary gift for mathematics. As early as 21 years old, he wrote a famous paper on the binomial theorem and won the position of professor of mathematics. But He inherited the very bad nature of his ancestors. His criminal genetics were made all the more frightening by his extraordinary intelligence. At last he was forced to quit his job as a military instructor in London. These are the ordinary people I know, but what I'm going to tell you now is what I found out.

"Over the years, I've become aware of a power behind those London criminals. I've got to bust it, I've got to find that resigned Professor Moriarty.

"He organizes a lot of crime in the City of London, almost all unsolved crime. He doesn't have to do it himself. He can protect his men. He has never been arrested himself, and he has never been arrested. doubted.

"This professor is under strict protection. Although I have tried hard, I still can't get evidence that can bring him to court. But he finally made a very small loophole. I used this as a starting point and planted trees around him. There's a net out there, just waiting for the net to come in. In three days (next monday) the time will be right for him and his henchmen to fall into the hands of the police. But if we don't act well, you know, even At the last minute, they will also escape from us.

"Well, if Professor Moriarty isn't aware of it, it's a success. Take note of my secret fight with him. I've never been pushed to this extent by an opponent. Although he did it effectively, I Slightly better than him. I have completed the final deployment this morning, and it will take only three days. I was sitting in the room thinking about it, when suddenly the door opened and Professor Moriarty stood in front of me.

"It must be confessed that I was taken aback when I saw him standing on the threshold. I knew his features well. He was tall and thin, with a high forehead, deep-set eyes, and a clean-shaven face. Yes, pale, somewhat ascetic, with a certain professorial air.

"'I thought you were brilliant, sir,' he said at last, 'and it's not a good thing to play with a loaded pistol in your pajama pocket.'

"In fact, as soon as he came in, I immediately realized that I was in danger. I could only get out of danger by killing him. So I hurriedly grabbed the pistol from the drawer, stuffed it in my pocket, and aimed it at him through the clothes. After seeing through, I had to take out the pistol and put it on the table. He still smiled like that.

"'You don't know me very well,' he said.

"'You are wrong,' I replied, 'I know you well. Please sit down and give me five minutes to say what you have to say.'

"'You should know what I'm going to say.'

"'Then you too should know what I shall answer.'

"'Can't you budge?'

"'Never.'

"Suddenly he put his hand in his pocket and I immediately picked up the pistol. But all he produced was a memo with some dates scribbled on it.

"It's the number of times I've sabotaged him and the dates, and he said he couldn't take it anymore.

"'What do you want to do?' I asked him.

"'You must stop, sir!' said he, shaking his head vigorously. 'You should understand that you must stop.'

"'We'll talk about it in a week.'

"'Tut, tut!' said he, 'either you stop, and don't bother us; or you die, and I won't give up.'

"'I'll be waiting,' said I.

"'It's tantamount to ruin,' he said. 'We have a great organization. You've got to be smart, or you'll die without a place to die.'

"'I am afraid,' said I, rising, 'that I have delayed an important business which awaited me elsewhere, by our conversing so speculatively.'

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

"'Well, well!' he said at last. 'It's a pity, but I did my best. Either you will be destroyed by me, or we will be destroyed together.'

"I said: 'I tell you, I care nothing if it guarantees your destruction.'

"'I will perish with you, not by you!' he snarled, turning and going out of the house.

"That's what we talked about, and I admit it, and I'm not comfortable after that. He's sure to get his henchmen to kill me."

"Has he already done it?"

"Yes. I was in Oxford Street at noon that day, and at the corner of the intersection from Bentinck Street to Welbeck Street, a carriage rushed towards me suddenly. I jumped onto the pavement in a hurry. , was able to survive. Then I kept having 'accidents'. When I came to your house just now, a thug attacked me again with a bludgeon. I knocked him down and he was taken into police custody. My knuckles, His front teeth were scraped. Now, Watson, you are not surprised by my strange demands and actions just now?"

I have always admired his fearlessness, and I admire him even more when he calmly recounted today's experience to me after a day of horror.

"You need to stay with me overnight?" I asked him.

"No, dear friend, I don't want to put you in danger either. I have a plan in place and the police can arrest them without my help. Only I have to testify in court. If you agree to travel with me in Europe Mainland, I will be happy."

"Just so I can find time," I said.

"Leaving tomorrow morning?"

"no problem."

"Ah, good. Please take this as an instruction and carry it out carefully. You cannot write your destination on your luggage. Tomorrow morning, you hire a carriage, but the first and second carriages that actively solicit business Ignore all of them. After you get on the bus, write the address to the coachman on a note, which says to the end of Lautherstrand, and tell him not to throw away the note. Pay the fare when you get on the bus, and when you stop, Cross the street and reach the other end of the street at a quarter past nine. You will see a carriage waiting on the side of the street. The driver wears a dark black cloak with a red edge on his collar. Get in this carriage and you will be right there. Victoria station for express trains to continental Europe."

"Where do we meet?"

(End of this chapter)