The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | Page 8

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 yourself close to that open 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 prepare 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 and simple-minded Nonconformist clergyman.
His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white tie, his sympathetic
smile, and general look of peering and benevolent curiosity were such
as Mr. John Hare alone could have equalled. It was not merely that
Holmes changed his costume. His expression, his manner, his very soul
seemed to vary with every fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a
fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a
specialist in crime.
It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it 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 the coming of its

occupant. The house was just such as I had pictured it from Sherlock
Holmes' succinct description, but the locality appeared to be less
private than I expected. On the contrary, for a small street in a quiet
neighbourhood, 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 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 his 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 have 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, but she could not tell what
indirect or political influence might be brought to bear upon a business
man. Besides, remember that 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 how to look."

"But how will you look?"
"I will not look."
"What 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."