The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Part 2 (2/2)
”And Madee, Serpentine Avenue, St John's Wood”
Holmes took a note of it ”One other question,” said he ”Was the photograph a cabinet?”
”It was”
”Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon have soht, Watson,” he added, as the wheels of the royal broughah to call to-morrow afternoon at three o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you”
II
At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had not yet returned The landlady inforht o'clock in theI sat down beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting hiht be I was already deeply interested in his inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grie features which were associated with the two crimes which I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own
Indeed, apart froation which rasp of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the quick, subtle led the most inextricable mysteries So accustomed was I to his invariable success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to enter into my head
It was close upon four before the door opened, and a drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the roo powers in the use of disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it was indeed he With a nod he vanished into the bedrooed in fivehis hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes
”Well, really!” he cried, and then he choked and laughed again until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the chair
”What is it?”
”It's quite too funny I a, or what I ended by doing”
”I can't i the habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler”
”Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual I will tell you, however I left the house a little after eight o'clock this room out of work There is a wonderful sy horsey men Be one of them, and you will know all that there is to know I soon found Briony Lodge It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but built out in front right up to the road, two stories Chubb lock to the door Large sitting-roo s allishfasteners which a child could open
Behind there was nothing reecould be reached from the top of the coach-house I walked round it and exa anything else of interest
”I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that there was a arden I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two fills of shag tobacco, and as much infor of half a dozen other people in the neighbourhood in whoraphies I was compelled to listen to”
”And what of Irene Adler?” I asked
”Oh, she has turned all theunder a bonnet on this planet So say the Serpentine-s at concerts, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for dinner Seldos
Has only one ood deal of hi, never calls less than once a day, and often twice He is a Mr Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Tees of a cabman as a confidant They had driven him home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about hian to walk up and down near Briony Lodge once n
”This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the matter He was a lawyer That sounded ominous What was the relation between them, and what the object of his repeated visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the forraph to his keeping If the latter, it was less likely On the issue of this question depended whether I should continue entleman's chambers in the Temple It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my inquiry I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the situation”
”I a you closely,” I answered
”I was still balancing the e, and a gentle out He was a remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently the reat hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the hly at home
”He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch gli up and down, talking excitedly, and waving his ar even more flurried than before As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to the Church of St Monica in the Edgeware Road Half a guinea if you do it in twentywhether I should not do well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of the buckles It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall door and into it I only caught a glimpse of her at the ht die for
”'The Church of St Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty ood to lose, Watson I was just balancing whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her landau when a cab cah the street The driver looked twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could object 'The Church of St Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes' It enty-five h as in the wind