Guided Sleep Meditation & Sleep Hypnosis from Sleep Cove - Double Bedtime Story: Sherlock Holmes (Scandal in Bohemia) and The Frog Prince

Episode Date: May 7, 2020

Enjoy this Double Episode of Sleepy Stories. Join Sherlock Holmes as he investigates another mystery in A Scandal in Bohemia, followed by the classic children's fairytale The Frog Prince  Please leave a 5-star review & SUBSCRIBE on Apple and Spotify. Sleep Cove Premium Become a Premium Member for Bonus Episodes & Ad-Free listening: Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.sleepcove.com/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and become a Premium Member. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get Instant Access⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and sign-up in two taps. The Sleep Cove Premium Feed includes: - Access to over 200 Ad-free Episodes - Regular Exclusive Bonus Episodes - A Back Catalogue of Dozens of Exclusive Episodes - Full Audiobooks like Alice in Wonderland - Your name read out on the Show - Our Love! Get your 7-day free trial:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://sleepcove.com/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For Apple users, click the TRY FREE button for a 2-week free trial and become a Premium Member Today. Support our Sponsors: This episode of Sleep Cove is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠betterhelp.com/sleepcove ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and get on your way to being your best self. Our Sister Shows: - Calm Cove - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bgSKfkbt⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠- Relaxing Music & Ambient Sounds - Mysteries at Midnight - Mystery Bedtime Stories - ⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/skj6YFah⁠⁠⁠ - Let's Begin - Daytime Meditations with wake sections at the end - ⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/Z--DgSH4 ⁠⁠⁠ - YouTube Bedtime Story Channel -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://rb.gy/t7wyjk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - YouTube Sleep Hypnosis & Meditation Channel - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClE6WJgPYRBtwVQ1qDBrbqw Connect: - Join the Newsletter for a Bonus Meditation -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.sleepcove.com/bonus⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Facebook:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://rb.gy/azpdrd⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/sleep_cove/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - TikTok:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@sleepcovechris⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Recommended Products: Comfortable Sleep Headphones -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.sleepcove.com/headphones⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Best Mattress from Puffy: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sleepcove.com/puffy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our Sister Shows in more detail: Calm Cove is our music channel, where you can find Relaxing Music, White Noise and Nature Sounds - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bgSKfkbt⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Let’s Begin is our brand new Day Meditation podcast. Start your day feeling relaxed and positive, or take some time out to unwind with these calming meditations with wakeners at the end so that you can continue your day. If you love our bedtime stories, check out Mysteries at Midnight, our brand-new podcast dedicated to the mystery stories our listeners love so much. Enjoy even more from Poirot, Sherlock and more classic mystery tales. _______________ All Content by Sleep Cove is for educational or entertainment purposes and does not provide or replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your medical professional before making any changes to your treatment and if in any doubt, contact your doctor. Please listen in a place where you can safely go to sleep. Sleep Cove is not responsible or liable for any loss, damage or injury arising from the use of this content. _________________ Sleep Cove content includes guided sleep meditations, sleep hypnosis (hypnotherapy), sleep stories (visualizations) and Bedtime Stories for adults and grown-ups, all designed to help you get a great night's sleep Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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please go to sleepcove.com slash support. That's sleepcove.com slash support. If you can't support the show right now, please subscribe with a bell to get alerts on all new free content thank you have you ever gazed in wonder at the great pyramid have you marvelled at the golden face of Tudankhamun

or admired the delicate features of Queen Nefertiti if you have you'll probably like the History of Egypt podcast every week we explore tales of this ancient culture The history of Egypt is available wherever you get your podcasting fix. Come, let me introduce you to the world of ancient Egypt. Hello and welcome to Sleep Gove. The podcast to get a great night's sleep. It's a double bedtime story episode, starting off with a short fairy tale of the frog prince,

followed by the first Sherlock Holmes short story A scandal in Bohemia I hope you like it Please do not listen to any sleep recording Whilst driving or operating heavy machinery Please listen in a place Where you can safely Go to sleep

Speak in The Frog Prince One fine evening A young princess Put on her bonnet and clogs and went out to take a walk by herself in a wood. And when she came to a cool spring of water that rose in the midst of it, she sat herself down to rest a while.

Now she had a golden ball in her hand, which was her favourite plaything, and she was always tossing it up into the air and catching it again as it fell. At the time she threw it up so high that she missed catching it as it fell and the ball bounded away and rolled along upon

until at last it fell down the princess looked into the spring after her ball but it was very deep so deep that she could not see the bottom of it she began to bewail her loss and said if I could only get my ball again I would give all my fine clothes

and jewels and everything that I have in the world. She was speaking. A frog put its head out of the water and said, Princess, why do you weep so bitterly? Alas, said she, What can you do for me, you nasty frog? My golden ball has fallen into the spring.

A frog said, I want not your pearls and jewels and fine clothes, but if you will love me and let me live with you and eat from off your golden plate and sleep upon your bed I will bring your ball again what nonsense thought the princess this silly frog is talking he can never even get out of the spring to visit me though he may be able to get my ball for me and therefore I will tell him he shall have what he asks So she said to the frog

Well if you bring me my ball I will do all you ask Dog put his head down And dive deep under the water And after a little while He came up again With the ball in his mouth And threw it on the edge of the spring

As soon as the young princess saw her ball to pick it up, and she was so overjoyed to have it in her hand again, that she never thought of the frog, but ran home with it, as fast as she could. The frog called after her, Stay, Princess, and take me with you as you said. But she did not stop to hear a word. The next day, just as the princess has sat down to dinner, she heard a strange noise. Tap, tap, plash, flash, as if something was coming up the marble staircase, and soon afterwards there was a gentle knock at the door,

and a little voice cried out and said, Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here, and mind the words that thou, and I said, by the fountain cool. In the greenwood shade, and the princess ran to the door and open it, and there she saw the frog, whom she had quite forgotten. At this sight she was sadly frightened, and shutting the door, as fast as she could, came back to her seat. The king, her father, seeing something had frightened her, asked her what was the matter.

There is a nasty frog, she said, at the door that little, lifted my ball for me out of the spring this morning. I told him that he should live with me here, thinking that he could never get out of the spring, but there he is at the door, and he wants to come in. While she was speaking, the frog knocked again at the door and said, Open the door, my princess dear, open the door to thy true love here,

and mind the words that thou and I said, by the fountain cool in the greenwood shade, said to the young princess, As you have given your word, you must keep it, so go and let him in. She did so, and the frog hopped into the room, and then straight on, tap, tap, plash, flash, from the bottom of the room to the top till he came up close to the table where the princess sat. pray lift me upon chair, he said to the princess, and let me sit next to you. As soon as she had done this, the frog said, put your plate nearer to me, that I may eat out of it. This she did, and when he had eaten as much as he could, he said,

Now I am tired, carry me upstairs and put me into bed. and the princess, though very unwilling, took him up in her hand and put him upon the pillow of her own bed, where he slept all night long. As soon as it was light, he jumped up, hopped downstairs, and went out of the house. Now then, thought the princess, at last he is gone. I shall be troubled with him, no. more, but she was mistaken, for when night came again she heard the same tapping at the door, and the frog came once more, and said, open the door, my princess dear, open the door to thy true love here, and mind the words that thou and I said, by the fountain cool, in the

greenwood shade. The princess opened the door, the frog came in and slept upon her pillow as before, till the morning broke, and the third night he did the same. But when the princess awoke on the following morning, she was astonished to see, instead of the frog, a handsome prince gazing on her with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, standing at the head of her bed. He told her that he had been enchanted by a spiteful fairy, who had changed him into a frog, and that he had been fainted so to abide till some princess should take him out of the spring and let him eat from her plate, sleep upon her bed for three nights. You, said the prince, have broken his cruel charm. I have nothing to wish for that.

you should go with me into my father's kingdom where I will marry you and love you as long as you live. Young princess, you may be sure was not long in saying yes to all this. And as they spoke, a gay coach drove up into beautiful horses, decked with plumes of feathers and golden harness, and behind the coach rode the prince's servant, faithful Heinrich, who had bewailed the misfortunes of his dear master during his enchantment, so long and so bitterly that his heart had well-nigh burst. They then took leave of the king and got into the coach with eight horses, and all set out, full of joy and merriment for the prince's kingdom, which they reached safely,

and there they lived years in Bohemia. To Sherlock Holmes, she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes, she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly was abhorrent to his cold, precise, but admirable balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen.

But as a lover, he would have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke on the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable things for the observer, excellent for drawing the veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor

which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature said as his. And yet there was one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler. A dubious and questionable memory. I've seen little of homes lately. my marriage had drifted us away from each other. My own complete happiness and the home-centered interests which rise up around the man

who first finds himself master of his own establishment were sufficient to absorb all my attention, while homes who loathed every former society with his own whole familian soul remained in our lodgings. in Baker Street, among his old books, and alternating from week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug and the fierce energy of his own keenness. He was still, as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime and occupied his immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in following out those clues, those mysteries which had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time to time I heard some vague account of his doings, of his summons to Odessa in the case of the Trepov murder, of his clearing up of the singular tragedy

of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomale, the mission which he had accomplished so delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely shared with all the readers of the Daily Press,

I knew little of my former friend and companion. It was on the 20th of March 1888, I was returning from a journey to a patient to civil practice, led me through Baker Street. I passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated in my mind. With my wooing incidents of the study in Scarlet,

I was seized with a keen desire to see homes again and to know how he was employing his extraordinary power, his rooms were brilliantly lit and even as I looked up I saw his tall sparse figure passed twice in a dark silhouette against the blind he was pacing the room swiftly

eagerly with his head sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him to every mood and habit his attitude and manner he was at work again. He had risen out of his drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent

of some new problem up to the chamber which had formerly been in part my own was not diffusive. It seldom was but he was glad I think to see me with hardly a word spoken but with a kindly eye he waved me to an armchair

through across his case of cigars and indicated a spirit case a gassagin in the corner and he stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular introspective fashion wedlock suits you

you remarked I think Watson that you have put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you seven I am answered, indeed, I should have thought a little more, just a trifle more I fancy. And in practice I observed Watson, you did not tell me that you intended to go into harness.

Then how do you know? I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting yourself very wet lately? And that you have a most clumsy and careless. servant girl. My dear Holmes, said I, this is too much. You would certainly have been burned, have you lived a few centuries ago. It is true that I have a country walk on Thursday, and came home in a dreadful mess. But as I have changed my clothes, I can't imagine how you deduce it to Mary Jane. She is incorrigible, and my wife has given her notice. But There, again, I failed to see how you work it out. He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands together.

It is simplicity itself, said he. My eyes tell me that on your inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously, they have been covered. caused by someone who was very carelessly scraped round the edges of the soul in order to remove crusted mud from it.

Hence, you see, my double deduction, that you have been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the London Slavey. As to your practice, if a gentleman walks into a gentleman and walks into my rooms, smelling of iodow form, with a black mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge on the right side of his top hat to show where he has secreted his stethoscope. I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce him to be an active member

of the medical profession. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his process of deduction. When I hear you give your reasons, I remarked, the thing always appears to me so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself. At each successive instance of your reasoning, I am baffled until you explain your process. And yet, I believe that my eyes are as good as "'Quiles, quite so,' he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down into an armchair. "'You see. But you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room?' "'Frequently?' "'How often?'

"'Well, some hundreds of times. Then, how many are there? How many? I don't know. Quite so. You have not observed, and yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now I know there are 17 steps, because I have seen and observed. Since you are interested in these little problems, and since you are good enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you may be interested in this. He threw over a sheet of thick, pink, tinted note paper, which had been lying open on the table. It came by the last post, said he. Read it aloud, the note was undated, and without either signature or address on you tonight.

At a quarter to wait, it said, a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of the Royal Houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have come from all quarters received, be in your chamber then at that hour and do not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask. This is indeed a mystery, I remarked. What do you imagine that it means? I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly, one begins to twist facts to suit theories,

instead of theories, to suit facts. But the note itself, what do you deduce from it? I carefully examined the writing. and the paper upon which it was written. Man who wrote it was presumably well-to-do, I remarked, endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. Such paper could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly strong and stiff.

Peculiar? That is the very word, said Holmes. It is not an English paper at all. Hold it up to the light. I did so and saw a large E with a small G, with a small T, woven into the texture of the paper. What do you make of that? asked Holmes.

The name of the maker, no doubt, or his monogram rather. Not at all, a G with a small T stands for Gaseelshaft, which is the German for company. It is a customary contraction, like our co. P of course stands for Papier. Now for the EG, let us glance at our continental gazette. He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. Egg glow, egglinitz.

Here we are. Egria, it is a German-speaking country in Bohemia, not far from Kalsbad. Remarkable has been the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous glass factories and paper mills. Ha ha my boy, what do you make of that? His eye sparkled and he sent up a great blue triumphant cloud from his cigarette made in Bohemia, I said, precisely, and the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you note the peculiar construction of the sentence? This account of you we have from all quarters received, a Frenchman or Russian could not have written that. It is the German who is so uncourteous to his verbs.

It only remains, therefore, to discover what is wanted by this German who writes upon bohemian paper and refers a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts. As he spoke, there was a sharp sound of horse's hooves and grating wheels against the curb, followed by sharp pull of the bell. Holmes whistled, air by the sound, he said. Yes, he continued, glancing out of the window. A nice little broham and a pair of beauties, a hundred and fifty guineas apiece.

There's money in this case, Watson. If there's nothing else, I think I better go now, Holmes. Not a bit, Doctor, stay where you, are, I am lost without my Boswell, and this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity to miss it. But your client, never mind him, I may want your help, and so may he. Here he comes, sit down in the armchair doctor and give us your best attention. through a heavy step which had been heard upon the stairs and in the passage

paused immediately outside the door there was aloud come in said Holmes a man entered who could hardly have been less than six foot six inches in height with their chest and limbs of Hercules his dress was rich

with a richest which would in England be looked to upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of Astrakhan were slashed across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while the deep blue cloak, which was thrown over his shoulders, was lined with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch which consisted of a single flaming barrel. Boots which extended halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with rich brown fur completed the impression of barbaric opulence, which were suggested by his whole appearance.

He carried a braubed brinned hat in his hands, while he wore across the upper part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black Vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted, that very moment, for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. The lower part of the face he appeared to be a strong man of character, suggestive of resolution, pushed to the length of obstinacy.

You have my note, he asked with a deep harsh voice and a strongly marked German accent. I told you that I would call. He looked from one to the, the other, as if in certain which to address. Pray take a seat, said Holmes. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me in my cases.

Whom have I the honour to address? You may address me as Count von Cram, a bohemian nobleman. I understand that this gentleman, your friend is a man of honour and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most extreme importance. If not, I should prefer to communicate with you. Alone, I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me back into my chair. It is both or none, said he. You may say before this gentlemen, anything in which you say to me,

Count shrugged his broad shoulders. Then I must begin, said he, by the binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years. At the end of that time, the matter will be of no importance. At present, it is not much to say that it is of such weight

it may have an influence upon European history. I promise, said Holmes. You will excuse the mask, continued our strange visitor. The August person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to you, and that I may confess at once that the title by which I've just called myself is not exactly my own. I was aware of it, said Holmes dryly. The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense scandal and seriously

compromise one of the reigning families of Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great house of Ormstein, head of tree kings of Bohemia. I was also aware of that, Moimed Holmes, settling himself down in his armchair and closing his eyes. A visitor glanced with some apparent surprised at the languid, lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him as the most incisive reasoner and the most energetic agent in Europe. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his gigantic client. If your majesty would condescend to state your case, he remarked, I should be better able to advise you.

from his chair and paste up and down the room in uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. You're right, he cried. I am the king. Why should I attempt to conceal it? Why indeed, murmured Holmes. Your Majesty has not spoken before. I was aware that I was addressing, William Gottsch-Strike, Sigismund von Arnstein, Grand Duke of Castle Faustine, and Headertory King of Bohemia. But you can understand, said our strange visitor, sitting down once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead. You can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in my own person, yet the matter was so delicate. that I could not confine to an agent without putting myself in his power.

I have come incognito from Prague from the purpose of consulting you. Then pray consult, said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. The facts are briefly these. Some five years ago, during a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known adventurous Irene Adelaide. the name is no doubt familiar to you. Kindly look her up in my index doctor, Mermert Holmes, without opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so it was difficult to name

subject or a person on which he could not at once furnish the information. In this case I found her biography sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a staff commander who had written a monograph about the deep sea fishes Let me see, said Holmes Hmm

Born in New Jersey in the year 1858 Contralto Hmm La Scala Hmm Primadon Imperial Opera of Walsall. Yes, retired from operatic stage. Ha, living in London. Quite so. Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled with this young person, wrote her some

compromising letters and is now desirous of getting those letters back. Precisely so, but how. Was there a secret marriage? None. No legal papers or certificates? None. Then I fail to follow Your Majesty. If this young person should produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is she to prove their authenticity? There is the writing. Poo-poo-fogery. 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. You have compromised yourself seriously.

I was only crown prince then. I was young, but I am 30 now. It must be recovered. We have tried and failed. Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought. She will not sell. Stolen then, 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. No sign of it? Absolutely none. Holmes laughed. It is quite a pretty little problem, said he, but is a very serious one, to me, returned the king, reproachfully. Very indeed, and what does she propose to do with the photograph? Ruin me. But how to be married? So I have heard. To Clotline, Lotham, von Saks-Manginen,

second daughter 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 bring the matter to an end. And Irene Adler? Threatens to send them the photo. 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, there are no lengths to which she would not go. None. You are sure that she has not sent it yet? I am sure. And why?

She has said that she would send it on the day. day when the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday. Oh, then we have three days yet, said Holmes with a yawn. That is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to look into, just at present. Your Majesty will of course stay in London for the present. certainly you will find me at Langham and in the name of Count van Cramm. I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress. Pray do, I shall be all anxiety. Then, as to money, you have caught blarch.

Absolutely, I tell you that I will give one of the provinces of my kingdom to have that photograph. And for present expenses, the king took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak and laid it on the table. There are £300 in gold and 700 notes, he said. Home scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of notebook and handed it to him. And mademoiselle's address, he asked, is Brinnelly Lodge, 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 some good news for you. And good night Watson, he added, as the wheels of the Royal Brigham rolled down the street. If you would be good enough to call tomorrow afternoon at three o'clock, I should like to chat this little matter over with you.

Chapter 2 At 3 o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the house shortly after 8 o'clock in the morning. I sat down beside the fire. However, with the intention of awaiting him, however long he might be,

I was already deeply interested in this inquiry. For, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and strange features which were associated with the two crimes, which I have already recorded, still, the nature of this case, an exalted station of his client, gave it a character of its own. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation, which my friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of a situation and his keen incisive reasoning which made it a pleasure for me to study his system of work and to follow the quick subtle methods by which he disentangled 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 a disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing 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 bedroom, whence he emerged in five minutes, Tweed-suited and respectable as of old, putting his 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 so funny. I'm sure you can never guess how I employing. my morning or what I ended up by doing. I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching 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 at a little after 8 o'clock this morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a wonderful sympathy and freemaster. among horsey men. Be one of them and you will know all that is to know. I found Brinley Lodge.

It is a Bejou Villa with a garden at the back, but built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chublocked to the door, large sitting room on the right side, well furnished with long windows almost to the floor, and those preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save the passage window could be reached from the top of the coach house. I walked round it and examined it closely from every point of view but without noting anything of interest. I then lounged down the streets and found as I expected

that there was a muse in a lane which runs down. down one wall of the garden. I let the Osler's hand in rubbing down their horses, and received in exchange two pence and a glass and a half, two fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire about Miss Adler, to say nothing of a half a dozen other people in the neighbourhood whom I was not in the least interested,

but whose biographies I was compelled to listen to. And what about Irene Adler? I asked. She has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. Say so the serpentine news to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, drives out five times a day, and returns at seven sharp for dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings.

as only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is a dark, handsome and dashing, never cause less 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 at dazzled times from subvertime muse and knew all about him. Sherlock continued,

when I had listened to all they had to tell I began to walk up and down near Briney Lodge once more and to think over my plan of campaign 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 was the object of this repeated visit she was his client, his friend, or his mistress. If the former, she had properly transferred the photograph to his keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this question depended, whether I could continue my work at Prawny Lodge or turn my attention to the gentleman'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 am following you closely, I answered. I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a handsome cab drove up to Briny Lodge and a gentleman sprang out. He was a remarkably handsome man, dark. equiline and mustached, evidently the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait,

and brushed past the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly at home. He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting room, pacing up and down, talking excitedly and waving his arms. Of her, I could see nothing. Presently, he emerged looking 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 cross and hankies in Regent Street and then to the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. half a guinea, if you can do it in 20 minutes. Away they went and I was just wondering whether 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 tanks of his harness were sticking out of the buckles it hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for.

The Church of St. Monica John, she cried, and half the sovereign, if you reach it in 20 minutes, this was quite too good to lose Watson. I was just balancing whether I could run for it, or whether I should perch behind her landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked twice at such a shabby fair, but I jumped in before he could object. The Church of St. Monica, said I, and half a sovereign, if you can reach it in 20 minutes.

It was 25 minutes to 12, and of course it was clear enough, what was in the wind. My cabby drove fast. I don't think I've ever drove faster, but the others were there before us. The cab and the Lando. with her steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there, save the two whom I had followed, and a surpliced clergyman who seemed to be expostulating with them.

They were all three standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side of the aisle, like any other idyll. who was dropped into a church. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to me and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards me.

Thank God he cried, You'll do, come, come. What then? I asked. Come, man. Only three minutes, or it won't be legal. I was half dragged up to the altar and before I knew where I was, I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear

and vouching for things of which I knew nothing and generally assisting in the secure tying up of Ari Nadler spinster to Godfrey Norton Bachelor. It was all done in an instant and there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady on the other while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my life,

and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just now. It seems that there had been some informality about their licence, and the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance saved the bridegroom for having to sally out into the streets in search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion. This was 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 make an immediate departure And so, necessitate, very prompt and energetic measures on my part At the church door, however, they separated, He driving back to the temple, and she to our own house. I shall drive out in the park as five as usual, she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove away in different directions and went off to make my own arrangements. Which are, some cold beef and a glass of beer, he answered ringing the bell.

I've 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 cooperation. I shall be delighted. You don't mind breaking the law? Not in the least, nor running a chance of a rest, 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 Mr. Turner had brought in the tray, I will make it clear to you.

Now, he said as he turned hard, 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 five now. In two hours we must be on the scene of the action. Miss Irene, or Madam Rather, returns from her drive at seven. We must be at Brani 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 five minutes afterwards the sitting 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 fire. 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, fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You will walk to the end of the street, where 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 the subject, then to rise the cry of fire and to wait for 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. after play. He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in the character of an amable, simple-minded, non-conformist 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 fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner when he became a specialist and crue. crime. It was quarter past six when we left Baker Street and it still wanted 10 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 Briney Lodge, waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just as I pictured it from Sherlock Holmes's 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 flirting 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 he paced to and fro in front of the house. His marriage rather simplifies matters. The photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are that she would be as averse to it being seen by Mr. Godfrey Norton as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his princess. Now the question is,

where are we to find the photograph? Where indeed? It is most likely that she carries it about with her. It is cabinet size, too large for its easy concealment about a woman's dress. She knows that the king is capable of having her waylaid and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We may take it,

then that she does not carry it about with her. Where then? Her banker or her lawyer? There is that double possibility. But I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it over to anyone else?

She could trust her own guardianship and she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be brought to bear upon a businessman. Besides, remember that she has resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house. But it has twice been burgled. They do not know where to look.

But how will you look? I will not look What then I will get her to show me But she will refuse She will not be able to But I hear the rumble of wheels It is her carriage

Now carry out my orders to the letter As he spoke the gleam of the sidelines of a carriage Came round the curve of the avenue It was a smart little Landau which rattled up to the door of Brine Lodge. As it pulled up, one of the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in the hope of irming a copper,

but was outboard away by another loafer who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen who took sides with one of the loungers and by the scissors grinder who was equally hot upon the other side a blow was struck

and in an instant the lady had stepped from her carriage was the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men who struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks to catched into the crowd to protect the lady but just as he reached her

he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood running freely down his face, at the fall the guardsmen took to their heels in one direction and the loungers the other, while a number of better-dressed people who had watched the scuffle without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her,

had hurried up the steps, but she stood at the top with her superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking back into the street. Is this poor gentleman much hurt, she asked. He is dead, cried several voices. No, no, there's life in him, shouted another, but he'll be gone before you can get him to hospital. He's such a brave fellow, said a woman. They would have had the lady's purse, and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a gang, and a rough one too. Ah, he's breathing now.

He can't line the street. May we bring him in, ma'am? Surely, bring him into the sitting room. There is a comfortable sofa this way, please, slowly and solemnly, he was born into Briney Lodge and laid out in the principal room while I still observed the proceedings from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit but the blinds had not been drawn so that I could see Holmes as he lay upon the couch.

I do not know whether he had seized with compunction at that moment for the part he was playing but I know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was conspiring or the grace and kindness with which she waited upon the Ingin Man and yet it would be the blackest treachery to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had interested me I hardened my heart

and took the smoke rocket from under my ulster After all I thought We are not injuring her We are but preventing her From injuring another Holmes had sat upon the couch And I saw him motion like a man Who is in need of air

He'd rushed across and threw open the window At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of fire. The word was no sooner out of my mouth and the whole crowd of spectators, well-dressed, and ill, gentlemen, oslars and servant-maids, joined in a shriek of fire.

Thick clouds of smoke curled through the room and out of the open window. I called a glimpse of rushing fingers and a moment later the voice of homes from within assuring them it was a false alarm slipping through the shouting I made my way to the corner of the street and in ten minutes

was rejoiced to find my friend's arm in mine and to get away from the scene of uproar he walked swiftly and in silence for some minutes until we had turned down one of the quiet streets which led towards the Edgeware Road. You did it very nicely, Doctor, he remarked. Nothing could have been better. It is all right.

You have the photograph? I know where it is. And how did you find out? She showed me, as I told you she would. I'm still in the dark I do not wish to make a mystery said he laughing The matter was perfectly simple

You of course saw that everyone in the street Was an accomplice They were all engaging for the evening I guessed that's much Then when the row broke out I had a little moist red paint In the palm of my hand I rushed forward

Fell down And clapped my hand hand to my face and became a piteous spectacle. It's an old trick that also I could fathom. Then they carried me. She was bound to have me in. What else could she do? And in her sitting room, which was the very room which I suspected,

it lay between that and her bedroom, and I was determined to see which. They laid me on a couch. I motioned for air. they were compelled to open the window and you had your chance. How did that help you? It was all important. When a woman thinks that her house is on fire,

her instinct is to rush at once to the thing she values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Darlington substitution scandal, it was of use to me and also in the Arnsworth Castle business A married woman grabs at a baby An unmarried one reaches for her jewel box

Now it was clear to me That our lady of today Had nothing in the house more precious to her Than what we are in quest of She would rush to secure it The alarm of fire was admirably done the smoke and shouting were enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully.

The photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the right bell-pull. She was there in an instant and I caught a glimpse of it as she half drew it out. When I cried out that it was a false alarm, she replaced it and glanced at the rocket and rushed from the room and I had to have to be a false alarm. have not seen us since. I rose and making my excuses escape from the house. I hesitated whether to attempt to secure the photograph at once, but the coachman had come in, and as he was watching me narrowly, it seemed safer to wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all. And now our quest is finally finished. I shall call with the king tomorrow. And with you, if you care to come

with us, we will be shown into the sitting room to wait for the lady, but it is probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the photograph, it might be a satisfaction to his majesty to regain it with his own hands. And when will you recall? At 8 in the morning, she will not be up, so that we shall have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to the king without delay. We reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was searching his pockets for the key, when someone passing said,

good night Mr Sherlock Holmes There were several people on the pavements at the time But the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth In an Ulster who had hurried by I've heard that voice before said Holmes Staring down the dimly lit street Now I wonder who the juice that could have been Chapter 3

I slept at Baker Street that night and we were engaged upon our toast and coffee in the morning when the king of Bohemia rushed into the room. You have really got it? He cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. Not yet. But you have hopes?

I have hopes. And come, I am all impatience to be gone. We must grab a cab. No, my Brunham is waiting, then that will simplify matters. We descended and started off once more for a briny lodge. Irene Adler is married, remarked Holmes. Married? When? Yesterday.

But to whom? To an English lawyer named Norton? But she could not love him. I am in hopes that she does. And why in hopes? Because it would spare your majesty or fear of future annoyance. If the lady loves her husband,

she does not love your majesty. If she does not love your majesty, there is no reason why she would interfere with your majesty's plan. It is true and yet, well, I wish she had been of my own station. What a queen she would have made. He relapsed into a moody silence, which was not broken until we drew into Serpentine Avenue. The door of Brony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood upon the steps.

She watched with us with sardonic eyes as we stepped from the Bronham. Mr Sherlock Holmes, I believe, she said. I am, Mr. Holmes, answered my companion, looking at her with a questioning and all rather startled gaze. Indeed, my mistress told me that you were likely to call. She left this morning with her husband by the 5.15 train from Charing Cross for the continent. What? Shulcum stagged back, white with chagrin and surprise. Do you mean that she has left England? Never to return. And the papers, as the king hoarsely, all is lost. We shall see. He pushed past the servant and rushed into the drawing room, followed by the king and myself.

The furniture was scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and open drawers if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small sliding shutter, and plunging in his hand, pulled out a photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Nadler in evening dress. The letter was superscribed to Sherlock Holmes Esquire, to be left till called for. My friend tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way.

My dear Mr Sherlock Holmes, you really did it very well. you took me in completely until after the alarm of fire I had not suspicion but then when I found out how I had betrayed myself I began to think

I had been warned against you months ago I had been told that if the king employed an agent it would certainly be you and your address had been given to me yet with all this you made me reveal what you wanted to know.

Even after I became suspicious, I found it hard to think, evil of a dear, kind, old clergyman. But you know I've been trained as an actress myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to watch you, ran upstairs, got into my walking clothes,

as I called them and came down just as you departed. Well, I followed you to your door and so made sure that I was really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr Sherlock Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you a good night and started for the temple to see my husband. We both thought the best resource was flight, when purposed by so formidable an antagonist.

So you will find the nest empty when you call tomorrow. As to the photograph, you'll client by rest in peace. I love, and I am loved by a better man than he. The king may do what he will, without hindrance, from one whom he is cruelly wronged. I will keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to possess. I remain dear, Mr. Scholar Combs, very truly yours, Irene Norton, knee, Adler. What a woman, oh what a woman, cried the king of Bohemia, when we had all

read this epistle. Did I not tell you how quick and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? Is it not a pity? She was not on my level. From what I have seen on the lady, she seems indeed to be on a very different level to your majesty, said Holmes coldly. I am sorry that I have not been able to bring

Your Majesty's business to a more successful conclusion. On the contrary, my dear sir, cried the king, nothing could be more successful. I know that her word is invalid, the photograph is now as safe, as if it were in the fire, I am glad to hear your majesty say so.

I'm immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can reward you. This ring, he slipped an emerald ring, from his finger, and held it out upon the palm of his hand. Your Majesty has something which I should value even more highly, said Holmes. You have what to name it. This photograph, the King stared at him in amazement.

Irene's photograph, he cried, certainly if you wish it. I thank you, Your Majesty. There is no more to be done in the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good morning. He bowed and turning away without observing the hand which the king had stretched out to him He set off in my company for his chambers And this is how a great scandal threatened to affect the king of Bohemia And how the best plans of Sherlock Holmes were beaten by a woman's wit

He used to make merry over the cleverness of women But I have not heard him do it of late and when he speaks of Ari Nadler or when he refers to her photograph it is always under the honourable title of The Woman