The Valley of Fear Part 1 (1/2)
The Valley of Fear
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Part 1-The Tragedy of Birlstone
Chapter 1
--The Warning
”I am inclined to think--” said I
”I should do so,” Sherlock Holmes remarked i-suffering of mortals; but I'll admit that I was annoyed at the sardonic interruption ”Really, Hol at tihts to give any immediate answer to my remonstrance He leaned upon his hand, with his untasted breakfast before him, and he stared at the slip of paper which he had just drawn from its envelope Then he took the envelope itself, held it up to the light, and very carefully studied both the exterior and the flap
”It is Porlock's writing,” said he thoughtfully ”I can hardly doubt that it is Porlock's writing, though I have seen it only twice before The Greek e with the peculiar top flourish is distinctive But if it is Porlock, then itof the very first i to himself rather than to me; but my vexation disappeared in the interest which the words awakened
”Who then is Porlock?” I asked
”Porlock, Watson, is a nom-de-plume, a mere identification mark; but behind it lies a shi+fty and evasive personality In a former letter he frankly informed me that the na the teereat city Porlock is ireat man hom he is in touch Picture to yourself the pilot fish with the shark, the jackal with the lion--anything that is insignificant in companionshi+p hat is forhest degree sinister That is where he comes within my purview You have heard me speak of Professor Moriarty?”
”The fa crooks as--”
”My blushes, Watson!” Hol voice
”I was about to say, as he is unknown to the public”
”A touch! A distinct touch!” cried Hol a certain unexpected vein of pawky huuardlibel in the eyes of the law--and there lie the glory and the wonder of it! The greatest scheanizer of every deviltry, the controlling brain of the underworld, a brain which ht have made or marred the destiny of nations--that's the eneral suspicion, so iement and self-effacement, that for those very words that you have uttered he could hale you to a court and ee with your year's pension as a solatium for his wounded character Is he not the celebrated author of The Dynamics of an Asteroid, a book which ascends to such rarefied heights of pure mathematics that it is said that there was noit? Is this a man to traduce? Foul-mouthed doctor and slandered professor--such would be your respective roles! That's genius, Watson But if I am spared by lesser men, our day will surely come”
”May I be there to see!” I exclai of this man Porlock”
”Ah, yes--the so-called Porlock is a link in the chain soreat attachment Porlock is not quite a sound link--between ourselves He is the only flaw in that chain so far as I have been able to test it”
”But no chain is stronger than its weakest link”
”Exactly, my dear Watson! Hence the extreme importance of Porlock Led on by soed by the judicious stimulation of an occasional ten-pound note sent to hiiven hest value which anticipates and prevents rather than avenges crime I cannot doubt that, if we had the cipher, we should find that this coain Holmes flattened out the paper upon his unused plate I rose and, leaning over him, stared down at the curious inscription, which ran as follows: 534 C2 13 127 36 31 4 17 21 41 DOUGLAS 109 293 5 37 BIRLSTONE 26 BIRLSTONE 9 47 171 ”What do you make of it, Holmes?”
”It is obviously an attempt to convey secret infore without the cipher?”
”In this instance, none at all”
”Why do you say 'in this instance'?”
”Because there are many ciphers which I would read as easily as I do the apocrypha of the agony coluuing it But this is different It is clearly a reference to the words in a page of soe and which book I alas' and 'Birlstone'?”
”Clearly because those are words which were not contained in the page in question”
”Then why has he not indicated the book?”
”Your native shrewdness, ht of your friends, would surely prevent you froe in the same envelope Should itbefore any harm comes from it Our second post is now overdue, and I shall be surprised if it does not bring us either a further letter of explanation, or, as is ures refer”
Holmes's calculation was fulfilled within a very few e, with the very letter which ere expecting
”The sa,” rened,” he added in an exultant voice as he unfolded the epistle ”Co on, Watson” His brow clouded, however, as he glanced over the contents
”Dear ! I fear, Watson, that all our expectations co I trust that the man Porlock will coo no further in this erous--he suspects me I can see that he suspects me He came to me quite unexpectedly after I had actually addressed this envelope with the intention of sending you the key to the cipher I was able to cover it up If he had seen it, it would have gone hard with me But I read suspicion in his eyes Please burn the cipher e, which can now be of no use to you
”FRED PORLOCK”
Hol this letter between his fingers, and frowning, as he stared into the fire
”After all,” he said at last, ”there uilty conscience Knowing himself to be a traitor, he may have read the accusation in the other's eyes”
”The other being, I presume, Professor Moriarty”
”No less! When any of that party talk about 'He' you knohom they mean There is one predominant 'He' for all of thee question When you have one of the first brains of Europe up against you, and all the powers of darkness at his back, there are infinite possibilities Anyhow, Friend Porlock is evidently scared out of his senses--kindly co in the note to that upon its envelope; which was done, he tells us, before this ill-oible”
”Why did he write at all? Why did he not simply drop it?”
”Because he feared I wouldtrouble on him”
”No doubt,” said I ”Of course” I had picked up the original cipherto think that an important secret may lie here on this slip of paper, and that it is beyond human power to penetrate it”
Sherlock Holmes had pushed away his untasted breakfast and lit the unsavoury pipe which was the companion of his deepestat the ceiling ”Perhaps there are points which have escaped your Machiavellian intellect Let us consider the probleht of pure reason This man's reference is to a book That is our point of departure”
”A soue one”
”Let us see then if we can narrow it down As I focus my mind upon it, it seems rather less impenetrable What indications have we as to this book?”