SHERLOCK HOLMES - Complete Collection: 64 Novels & Stories in One Volume. Артур Конан Дойл
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СКАЧАТЬ upon what she knew. In this I fancy that in any case he made a miscalculation, and that, if we had not been there, his doom would none the less have been sealed. A woman of Spanish blood does not condone such an injury so lightly. And now, my dear Watson, without referring to my notes, I cannot give you a more detailed account of this curious case. I do not know that anything essential has been left unexplained."

      "He could not hope to frighten Sir Henry to death as he had done the old uncle with his bogie hound."

      "The beast was savage and half-starved. If its appearance did not frighten its victim to death, at least it would paralyse the resistance which might be offered."

      "No doubt. There only remains one difficulty. If Stapleton came into the succession, how could he explain the fact that he, the heir, had been living unannounced under another name so close to the property? How could he claim it without causing suspicion and inquiry?"

      "It is a formidable difficulty, and I fear that you ask too much when you expect me to solve it. The past and the present are within the field of my inquiry, but what a man may do in the future is a hard question to answer. Mrs. Stapleton has heard her husband discuss the problem on several occasions. There were three possible courses. He might claim the property from South America, establish his identity before the British authorities there and so obtain the fortune without ever coming to England at all; or he might adopt an elaborate disguise during the short time that he need be in London; or, again, he might furnish an accomplice with the proofs and papers, putting him in as heir, and retaining a claim upon some proportion of his income. We cannot doubt from what we know of him that he would have found some way out of the difficulty. And now, my dear Watson, we have had some weeks of severe work, and for one evening, I think, we may turn our thoughts into more pleasant channels. I have a box for 'Les Huguenots.' Have you heard the De Reszkes? Might I trouble you then to be ready in half an hour, and we can stop at Marcini's for a little dinner on the way?"

       THE END

      The Valley of Fear

       Table of Contents

       Part 1. The Tragedy of Birlstone

       Chapter 1. The Warning

       Chapter 2. Sherlock Holmes Discourses

       Chapter 3. The Tragedy of Birlstone

       Chapter 4. Darkness

       Chapter 5. The People of the Drama

       Chapter 6. A Dawning Light

       Chapter 7. The Solution

       Part 2. The Scowrers

       Chapter 1. The Man

       Chapter 2. The Bodymaster

       Chapter 3. Lodge 341, Vermissa

       Chapter 4. The Valley of Fear

       Chapter 5. The Darkest Hour

       Chapter 6. Danger

       Chapter 7. The Trapping of Birdy Edwards

       Epilogue

      Part 1.

       The Tragedy of Birlstone

       Table of Contents

      Chapter 1.

       The Warning

       Table of Contents

      "I am inclined to think—" said I.

      "I should do so," Sherlock Holmes remarked impatiently.

      I believe that I am one of the most long-suffering of mortals; but I'll admit that I was annoyed at the sardonic interruption.

      "Really, Holmes," said I severely, "you are a little trying at times."

      He was too much absorbed with his own thoughts 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 it must be something of the very first importance."

      He was speaking 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 shifty and evasive personality. In a former letter he frankly informed me that the name was not his own, and defied me ever to trace him among the teeming millions of this great city. Porlock is important, not for himself, but for the great man with whom he is in touch. Picture to yourself the pilot fish with the shark, the jackal with the lion—anything that is insignificant in companionship with what is formidable: not only formidable, Watson, but sinister—in the highest degree sinister. That is where he comes within my purview. You have heard me speak of Professor Moriarty?"

      "The СКАЧАТЬ