The Return of Sherlock Holmes | Page 3

disappear among the
throng.
My observations of No. 427 Park Lane did little to clear up the problem
in which I was interested. The house was separated from the street by a
low wall and railing, the whole not more than five feet high. It was
perfectly easy, therefore, for anyone to get into the garden, but the
window was entirely inaccessible, since there was no waterpipe or
anything which could help the most active man to climb it. More
puzzled than ever, I retraced my steps to Kensington. I had not been in
my study five minutes when the maid entered to say that a person
desired to see me. To my astonishment it was none other than my
strange old book collector, his sharp, wizened face peering out from a
frame of white hair, and his precious volumes, a dozen of them at least,
wedged under his right arm.
"You're surprised to see me, sir," said he, in a strange, croaking voice.
I acknowledged that I was.
"Well, I've a conscience, sir, and when I chanced to see you go into this
house, as I came hobbling after you, I thought to myself, I'll just step in
and see that kind gentleman, and tell him that if I was a bit gruff in my
manner there was not any harm meant, and that I am much obliged to
him for picking up my books."
"You make too much of a trifle," said I. "May I ask how you knew who
I was?"
"Well, sir, if it isn't too great a liberty, I am a neighbour of yours, for
you'll find my little bookshop at the corner of Church Street, and very
happy to see you, I am sure. Maybe you collect yourself, sir. Here's
BRITISH BIRDS, and CATULLUS, and THE HOLY WAR--a bargain,
every one of them. With five volumes you could just fill that gap on
that second shelf. It looks untidy, does it not, sir?"

I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me. When I turned again,
Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across my study table. I
rose to my feet, stared at him for some seconds in utter amazement, and
then it appears that I must have fainted for the first and the last time in
my life. Certainly a gray mist swirled before my eyes, and when it
cleared I found my collar-ends undone and the tingling after-taste of
brandy upon my lips. Holmes was bending over my chair, his flask in
his hand.
"My dear Watson," said the well-remembered voice, "I owe you a
thousand apologies. I had no idea that you would be so affected."
I gripped him by the arms.
"Holmes!" I cried. "Is it really you? Can it indeed be that you are alive?
Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of that awful abyss?"
"Wait a moment," said he. "Are you sure that you are really fit to
discuss things? I have given you a serious shock by my unnecessarily
dramatic reappearance."
"I am all right, but indeed, Holmes, I can hardly believe my eyes. Good
heavens! to think that you--you of all men--should be standing in my
study." Again I gripped him by the sleeve, and felt the thin, sinewy arm
beneath it. "Well, you're not a spirit anyhow," said I. "My dear chap,
I'm overjoyed to see you. Sit down, and tell me how you came alive out
of that dreadful chasm."
He sat opposite to me, and lit a cigarette in his old, nonchalant manner.
He was dressed in the seedy frockcoat of the book merchant, but the
rest of that individual lay in a pile of white hair and old books upon the
table. Holmes looked even thinner and keener than of old, but there was
a dead-white tinge in his aquiline face which told me that his life
recently had not been a healthy one.
"I am glad to stretch myself, Watson," said he. "It is no joke when a tall
man has to take a foot off his stature for several hours on end. Now, my
dear fellow, in the matter of these explanations, we have, if I may ask

for your cooperation, a hard and dangerous night's work in front of us.
Perhaps it would be better if I gave you an account of the whole
situation when that work is finished."
"I am full of curiosity. I should much prefer to hear now."
"You'll come with me to-night?"
"When you like and where you like."
"This is, indeed, like the old days. We shall have time for a mouthful of
dinner before we need go. Well, then, about that chasm. I had no
serious difficulty in getting out of it, for the very simple reason that