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- Артур Конан Дойл
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- Возвращение Шерлока Холмса
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- Стр. 1/291
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
It
was
in
the
spring
of
the
year
1894
that
all
London
was
interested
,
and
the
fashionable
world
dismayed
,
by
the
murder
of
the
Honourable
Ronald
Adair
under
most
unusual
and
inexplicable
circumstances
.
The
public
has
already
learned
those
particulars
of
the
crime
which
came
out
in
the
police
investigation
,
but
a
good
deal
was
suppressed
upon
that
occasion
,
since
the
case
for
the
prosecution
was
so
overwhelmingly
strong
that
it
was
not
necessary
to
bring
forward
all
the
facts
.
Only
now
,
at
the
end
of
nearly
ten
years
,
am
I
allowed
to
supply
those
missing
links
which
make
up
the
whole
of
that
remarkable
chain
.
The
crime
was
of
interest
in
itself
,
but
that
interest
was
as
nothing
to
me
compared
to
the
inconceivable
sequel
,
which
afforded
me
the
greatest
shock
and
surprise
of
any
event
in
my
adventurous
life
.
Even
now
,
after
this
long
interval
,
I
find
myself
thrilling
as
I
think
of
it
,
and
feeling
once
more
that
sudden
flood
of
joy
,
amazement
,
and
incredulity
which
utterly
submerged
my
mind
.
Let
me
say
to
that
public
,
which
has
shown
some
interest
in
those
glimpses
which
I
have
occasionally
given
them
of
the
thoughts
and
actions
of
a
very
remarkable
man
,
that
they
are
not
to
blame
me
if
I
have
not
shared
my
knowledge
with
them
,
for
I
should
have
considered
it
my
first
duty
to
do
so
,
had
I
not
been
barred
by
a
positive
prohibition
from
his
own
lips
,
which
was
only
withdrawn
upon
the
third
of
last
month
.
It
can
be
imagined
that
my
close
intimacy
with
Sherlock
Holmes
had
interested
me
deeply
in
crime
,
and
that
after
his
disappearance
I
never
failed
to
read
with
care
the
various
problems
which
came
before
the
public
.
And
I
even
attempted
,
more
than
once
,
for
my
own
private
satisfaction
,
to
employ
his
methods
in
their
solution
,
though
with
indifferent
success
.
There
was
none
,
however
,
which
appealed
to
me
like
this
tragedy
of
Ronald
Adair
.
As
I
read
the
evidence
at
the
inquest
,
which
led
up
to
a
verdict
of
willful
murder
against
some
person
or
persons
unknown
,
I
realized
more
clearly
than
I
had
ever
done
the
loss
which
the
community
had
sustained
by
the
death
of
Sherlock
Holmes
.
There
were
points
about
this
strange
business
which
would
,
I
was
sure
,
have
specially
appealed
to
him
,
and
the
efforts
of
the
police
would
have
been
supplemented
,
or
more
probably
anticipated
,
by
the
trained
observation
and
the
alert
mind
of
the
first
criminal
agent
in
Europe
.
All
day
,
as
I
drove
upon
my
round
,
I
turned
over
the
case
in
my
mind
and
found
no
explanation
which
appeared
to
me
to
be
adequate
.
At
the
risk
of
telling
a
twice
-
told
tale
,
I
will
recapitulate
the
facts
as
they
were
known
to
the
public
at
the
conclusion
of
the
inquest
.
The
Honourable
Ronald
Adair
was
the
second
son
of
the
Earl
of
Maynooth
,
at
that
time
governor
of
one
of
the
Australian
colonies
.
Adair
’
s
mother
had
returned
from
Australia
to
undergo
the
operation
for
cataract
,
and
she
,
her
son
Ronald
,
and
her
daughter
Hilda
were
living
together
at
427
,
Park
Lane
.
The
youth
moved
in
the
best
society
—
had
,
so
far
as
was
known
,
no
enemies
and
no
particular
vices
.
He
had
been
engaged
to
Miss
Edith
Woodley
,
of
Carstairs
,
but
the
engagement
had
been
broken
off
by
mutual
consent
some
months
before
,
and
there
was
no
sign
that
it
had
left
any
very
profound
feeling
behind
it
.
For
the
rest
,
the
man
’
s
life
moved
in
a
narrow
and
conventional
circle
,
for
his
habits
were
quiet
and
his
nature
unemotional
.
Yet
it
was
upon
this
easy
-
going
young
aristocrat
that
death
came
,
in
most
strange
and
unexpected
form
,
between
the
hours
of
ten
and
eleven
-
twenty
on
the
night
of
March
30
,
1894
.
Ronald
Adair
was
fond
of
cards
—
playing
continually
,
but
never
for
such
stakes
as
would
hurt
him
.
He
was
a
member
of
the
Baldwin
,
the
Cavendish
,
and
the
Bagatelle
card
clubs
.
It
was
shown
that
,
after
dinner
on
the
day
of
his
death
,
he
had
played
a
rubber
of
whist
at
the
latter
club
.
He
had
also
played
there
in
the
afternoon
.
The
evidence
of
those
who
had
played
with
him
—
Mr
.
Murray
,
Sir
John
Hardy
,
and
Colonel
Moran
—
showed
that
the
game
was
whist
,
and
that
there
was
a
fairly
equal
fall
of
the
cards
.
Adair
might
have
lost
five
pounds
,
but
not
more
.
His
fortune
was
a
considerable
one
,
and
such
a
loss
could
not
in
any
way
affect
him
.
He
had
played
nearly
every
day
at
one
club
or
other
,
but
he
was
a
cautious
player
,
and
usually
rose
a
winner
.
It
came
out
in
evidence
that
,
in
partnership
with
Colonel
Moran
,
he
had
actually
won
as
much
as
four
hundred
and
twenty
pounds
in
a
sitting
,
some
weeks
before
,
from
Godfrey
Milner
and
Lord
Balmoral
.
So
much
for
his
recent
history
as
it
came
out
at
the
inquest
.
On
the
evening
of
the
crime
,
he
returned
from
the
club
exactly
at
ten
.
His
mother
and
sister
were
out
spending
the
evening
with
a
relation
.
The
servant
deposed
that
she
heard
him
enter
the
front
room
on
the
second
floor
,
generally
used
as
his
sitting
-
room
.
She
had
lit
a
fire
there
,
and
as
it
smoked
she
had
opened
the
window
.
No
sound
was
heard
from
the
room
until
eleven
-
twenty
,
the
hour
of
the
return
of
Lady
Maynooth
and
her
daughter
.
Desiring
to
say
good
-
night
,
she
attempted
to
enter
her
son
’
s
room
.
The
door
was
locked
on
the
inside
,
and
no
answer
could
be
got
to
their
cries
and
knocking
.
Help
was
obtained
,
and
the
door
forced
.
The
unfortunate
young
man
was
found
lying
near
the
table
.
His
head
had
been
horribly
mutilated
by
an
expanding
revolver
bullet
,
but
no
weapon
of
any
sort
was
to
be
found
in
the
room
.
On
the
table
lay
two
banknotes
for
ten
pounds
each
and
seventeen
pounds
ten
in
silver
and
gold
,
the
money
arranged
in
little
piles
of
varying
amount
.
There
were
some
figures
also
upon
a
sheet
of
paper
,
with
the
names
of
some
club
friends
opposite
to
them
,
from
which
it
was
conjectured
that
before
his
death
he
was
endeavouring
to
make
out
his
losses
or
winnings
at
cards
.
A
minute
examination
of
the
circumstances
served
only
to
make
the
case
more
complex
.
In
the
first
place
,
no
reason
could
be
given
why
the
young
man
should
have
fastened
the
door
upon
the
inside
.
There
was
the
possibility
that
the
murderer
had
done
this
,
and
had
afterwards
escaped
by
the
window
.
The
drop
was
at
least
twenty
feet
,
however
,
and
a
bed
of
crocuses
in
full
bloom
lay
beneath
.
Neither
the
flowers
nor
the
earth
showed
any
sign
of
having
been
disturbed
,
nor
were
there
any
marks
upon
the
narrow
strip
of
grass
which
separated
the
house
from
the
road
.
Apparently
,
therefore
,
it
was
the
young
man
himself
who
had
fastened
the
door
.
But
how
did
he
come
by
his
death
?
No
one
could
have
climbed
up
to
the
window
without
leaving
traces
.
