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The man sprang from his chair and paced up anddown the room in uncontrollable agitation.
Then, with a gesture of desperation, he tore themask from his face and hurled it upon the ground.
You are right, he cried, I am the king. Why shouldI attempt to conceal it? Why, indeed?
Murmured Holmes. Your Majesty had not spokenbefore I was aware that I was addressing WilhelmGottsreich Sigismund von Ormstein, Grand Duke ofCastle Felstein, and Hereditary King of Bohemia.
But you can understand, said our strange visitor,sitting down once more and passing his hand overhis high white forehead, you can understand that Iam not accustomed to doing such business in my ownperson.
Yet the matter was so delicate that I could notconfide it to an agent without putting myself inhis power.
I have come incognito from Prague for the purposeof consulting you.
Then, pray consult, said Holmes, shutting his eyesonce more.
The facts are briefly these, some five years ago,during a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made theacquaintance of the well-known adventurous, IreneAdler. The name is no doubt familiar to you.
Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor, murmuredHolmes without opening his eyes.
For many years he had adopted a system of docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, sothat it was difficult to name a subject or aperson on which he could not at once furnishinformation.
In this case, I found her biography sandwiched inbetween that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a staffcommander who had written a monograph upon thedeep-sea fishes.
Let me see, said Holmes.
Hum. Born in New Jersey in the year 1858.
Contralto, Hum. La Scala, Hum.
Primadonna Imperial Opera of Warsaw, yes.
Retired from operatic stage, ha, ha.
Living in London, quite so.
Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangledwith this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and is now desirous of gettingthose letters back.
Precisely so.
But how?
Was there a secret marriage?
None.
No legal papers or certificates?
None.
Then I failed to follow Your Majesty.
If this young person should produce her lettersfor blackmailing or other purposes, how is she toprove their authenticity?
There is the writing.
Poo, poo.
Forgery.
My private notepaper.
Stolen.
My own seal.
Imitated.
My photograph.
Bought.
We were both in the photograph.
Oh, dear.
That is very bad.
Your Majesty has indeed committed an indiscretion.
I was mad, insane.
03:00
You have compromised yourself seriously.
I was only crown prince then.
I was young.
I am but thirty now.
It must be recovered.
We have tried and failed.
Your Majesty must pay.
It must be bought.
She will not sell.
Stolen, then.
Five attempts have been made.
Twice burglars in my pay ransacked her house.
Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled.
Twice she has been waylaid.
There has been no result.
No sign of it?
Absolutely none.
Holmes laughed.
It is quite a pretty little problem, said he.
But a very serious one to me, returned the kingreproachfully.
Very, indeed.
And what does she propose to do with thephotograph?
To ruin me.
But how?
I am about to be married.
So I have heard.
To Clotilde Lothman von Saxmaningen, seconddaughter of the king of Scandinavia.
You may know the strict principles of her family.
She is herself the very soul of delicacy.
A shadow of a doubt as to my conduct would bringthe matter to an end.
And Irene Adler?
Threatens to send them the photograph.
And she will do it.
I know that she will do it.
You do not know her, but she has a soul of steel.
She has the face of the most beautiful of women,and the mind of the most resolute of men.
Rather than I should marry another woman, thereare no lengths to which she would not go, none.
You are sure that she has not sent it yet?
I am sure.
And why?
Because she has said that she would send it on theday when the betrothal was publicly proclaimed.
That will be next Monday.
Oh, then we have three days yet, said Holmes witha yawn.
That is very fortunate, as I have one or twomatters of importance to look into just atpresent.
Your Majesty will, of course, stay in London forthe present?
Certainly.
You will find me at the Langham under the name ofthe Count von Kram.
Then I shall drop you a line to let you know howwe progress.
Free do so.
I shall be all anxiety.
Then, as to money?
You have carte blanche.
Absolutely?
I tell you that I would give one of the provincesof my kingdom to have that photograph.
And for present expenses?
The king took a heavy chamois leather bag fromunder his cloak and laid it on the table.
There are 300 pounds in gold and 700 in notes, hesaid.
Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of hisnotebook and handed it to him.
And Mademoiselle's address?
He asked.
Is Bryony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John'sWood.
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 thatwe shall soon have some good news for you.
And good night, Watson, he added, as the wheels ofthe royal broom rolled down the street.
If you will be good enough to call tomorrowafternoon at 3 o'clock I should like to chat thislittle matter over with you.
2.
At 3 o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, butHolmes had not yet returned.
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The landlady informed me that he had left thehouse shortly after 8 o'clock in the morning.
I sat down beside the fire, however, with theintention of awaiting him, however long he mightbe.
I was already deeply interested in his inquiry,for, though it was surrounded by none of the grimand strange features which were associated withthe two crimes which I have already recorded,still, the nature of the case and the exaltedstation of his client gave it a character of itsown.
Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigationwhich my friend had on hand, there was somethingin his masterly grasp of a situation, and hiskeen, incisive reasoning, which made it a pleasureto me to study his system of work, and to followthe quick, subtle methods by which he disentangledthe most inextricable mysteries.
So accustomed was I to his invariable success thatthe very possibility of his failing had ceased toenter into my head.
It was close upon four before the door opened, anda drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an inflamed face and disreputableclothes, walked into the room.
Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powersin the use of disguises, I had to look three timesbefore I was certain that it was indeed he.
With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence heemerged in five minutes tweed-suited andrespectable, as of old.
Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretchedout his legs in front of the fire and laughedheartily for some minutes.
Well, really, he cried, and then he choked andlaughed again until he was obliged to lie back,limp and helpless, in the chair.
What is it? It's quite too funny. I am sure youcould never guess how I employed my morning, orwhat I ended by doing.
I can't imagine. I suppose that you have beenwatching The Habits, and perhaps The House, ofMiss Irene Adler.
Quite so, but the sequel was rather unusual. Iwill tell you, however.
I left the house a little after 8 o'clock thismorning in the character of a groom out of work.
There is a wonderful sympathy and freemasonryamong horsey men. Be one of them, and you willknow all that there is to know.
I soon found Bryony Lodge. It is a bijou villa,with a garden at the back, but built out in frontright up to the road, two storeys.
Chubb locked to the door. Large sitting room onthe right side, well furnished, with long windowsalmost to the floor, and those preposterousEnglish window fasteners which a child could open.
Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that thepassage window could be reached from the top ofthe coachhouse.
I walked round it and examined it closely fromevery point of view, but without noting anythingelse of interest.
I then lounged down the street and found, as Iexpected, that there was a muse in a lane whichruns down by one wall of the garden.
I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down theirhorses, and received in exchange tuppence, a glassof half-and-half, two fills of shag tobacco, andas much information as I could desire about MissAdler,
to say nothing of half a dozen other people in theneighbourhood in whom I was not in the leastinterested, but whose biographies I was compelledto listen to.
And what of Irene Adler? I asked.
Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down inthat part. She is the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet.
09:00
So say the serpentine muse, to a man. She livesquietly, sings at concerts, drives out at fiveevery day, and returns at seven sharp for dinner.
Seldom goes out at other times, except when shesings. Has only one male visitor, but a good dealof him.
He is dark, handsome, and dashing, never callsless than once a day, and often twice. He is a Mr.Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple.
See the advantages of a cabman as a confidant.They had driven him home a dozen times fromserpentine muse, and knew all about him.
When I had listened to all they had to tell, Ibegan to walk up and down near Briny Lodge oncemore, and to think over my plan of campaign.
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