sherlock holmes | Page 7

me a sovereign, and
I mean to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion.” “This is a very unexpected turn of affairs,” said I; “and what then?”
“Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if the pair might
take an immediate departure, and so necessitate very prompt and energetic mea-
sures on my part. At the church door, however, they separated, he driving back to
the Temple, and she to her own house. `I shall drive out in the park at ve 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 was 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 ve now. In two
hours we must be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns
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 ve
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 re. 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, tted with a cap at either

ADVENTURE I. A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA
14
end to make it self-lighting. Your task is conned to that. When you raise your
cry of re, 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 re, 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 ne 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 irting 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 simplies 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