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    The Return of Sherlock Holmes - The Sherlock Holmes Collector's Library: With Original Illustrations by Charles R. Macauley
    The Return of Sherlock Holmes - The Sherlock Holmes Collector's Library: With Original Illustrations by Charles R. Macauley
    The Return of Sherlock Holmes - The Sherlock Holmes Collector's Library: With Original Illustrations by Charles R. Macauley
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    The Return of Sherlock Holmes - The Sherlock Holmes Collector's Library: With Original Illustrations by Charles R. Macauley

    By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles R. Macauley

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    After three years of being presumed dead, Sherlock Holmes returns to investigate 13 mysterious cases in this enthralling collection of short stories.

    After his ill-fated confrontation with his formidable enemy, Professor Moriarty, at the Reichenbach Falls, Sherlock Holmes was presumed dead. Over three years later, Holmes reappears, unharmed, in ‘The Adventure of the Empty House’. Reuniting with Watson, the detective reveals how he defeated Moriarty and the sleuthing duo embark on a tantalising series of adventures. This edition features the original illustrations by Charles R. Macauley.

    The stories featured in this volume include:
      - The Adventure of the Empty House
      - The Adventure of the Norwood Builder
      - The Adventure of the Dancing Men
      - The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist
      - The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
      - The Adventure of the Second Stain

    First published between 1903 and 1904 in The Strand Magazine, The Return of Sherlock Holmes collection demonstrates Arthur Conan Doyle’s masterful skill in short story writing. A specially commissioned introduction also features in this volume, alongside an article by Arthur Conan Doyle and an essay on the history of detective fiction by S.S. Van Dine.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateMar 31, 2016
    ISBN9781473369474
    The Return of Sherlock Holmes - The Sherlock Holmes Collector's Library: With Original Illustrations by Charles R. Macauley
    Author

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was a Scottish writer and physician, most famous for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes and long-suffering sidekick Dr Watson. Conan Doyle was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels.

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      The Return of Sherlock Holmes - The Sherlock Holmes Collector's Library - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

      Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

      Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1859 to Charles and Mary Doyle. He was the eldest of nine siblings, seven of whom reached adulthood. His mother was effectively a single parent for the majority of his childhood due to his father’s struggle with alcoholism. In 1864, the family were separated, and Conan Doyle lived with a family friend for three years. When he was reunited with his parents and siblings, they lived in three squalid tenement flats. With the support of his extended family, he was sent to a Jesuit boarding school in England at the age of nine before moving to Austria at 16 to complete his education. Despite attending Catholic schools, he later rejected the faith and described himself as agnostic.

      Between 1876 and 1881, Conan Doyle studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. While studying, he began writing short stories. His first piece, ‘The Mystery of Sasassa Valley’ (1879), was published in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal before he was 20. He also met the man who would later become the inspiration for his remarkable character Sherlock Holmes. Doctor Joseph Bell was a highly observant man whose powerful skills of deduction influenced the fictional detective’s unparalleled attention to detail.

      Graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery in 1881, Conan Doyle went on to work onboard the SS Mayumba as the ship’s surgeon. He then completed his Doctor of Medicine degree and moved to Plymouth to practice medicine in 1882. Settling in Southsea, he opened an independent medical practice and began writing in between seeing patients. It was here that he fell in love with Louisa Hawkins, and the pair married in 1885. They went on to have two children, Mary Louise (1889–1976) and Arthur Alleyne Kingsley (1892–1918).

      After several unsuccessful attempts to get his fiction published, Conan Doyle’s first significant work, A Study in Scarlet, was printed in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887. The novel is the first instalment in the Sherlock Holmes series and introduces the detective and his loyal confidant, Doctor John Watson. When he began to write short Holmes stories for The Strand Magazine in 1891, his writing career took off, and he abandoned his medical practices.

      The Sherlock Holmes stories were a commercial triumph, garnering an international following. Despite being one of the best-paid authors of the time, Conan Doyle wanted to write less of the detective’s adventures so he could focus on the work he truly enjoyed: historical fiction. He attempted to end Holmes’ narrative on multiple occasions, but both the fans and the publishers demanded more. The beloved character features in a total of 56 short stories and four novels, including Conan Doyle’s magnum opus, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902).

      Aside from his fiction, Conan Doyle was also a passionate political campaigner. A pamphlet he published in 1902 defending the United Kingdom’s much-criticised role in the Boer War is seen as a major contributor to his receiving of a knighthood later that same year.

      Since rejecting his Catholic upbringing, the author turned to mystic spiritualism. He developed a close friendship with the American escape artist Harry Houdini before the two had a public falling out in 1922 when the magician publicly declared his disbelief in spiritualism.

      Conan Doyle’s first wife passed away in 1906 after battling tuberculosis. The following year, he married his close friend, Jean Elizabeth Leckie, who shared his spiritual interests and was a self-proclaimed psychic medium. They had three children together, Denis Percy Stewart (1909–1955), Adrian Malcolm (1910–1970), and Jean Lena Annette (1912–1997).

      In the last years of his life, Conan Doyle dedicated most of his time to preaching the spiritualist movement. Travelling Australia, Northern America, and Europe, he gave a series of lectures on the subject. In 1925, he opened The Physic Bookshop dedicated to spiritualism in London. Having published the final volume of Holmes stories in 1927, Conan Doyle launched a five-month tour of Africa the following year, giving more lectures across the continent. Exhausted from his travels, he suffered a heart attack in 1929. Despite doctors’ advice, he continued to work, which led to a final heart attack in his East Sussex home on 7th July 1930. He passed away aged 71 as the most famous detective fiction writer of all time.

      THE LEGACY OF

      SHERLOCK HOLMES

      An Introduction

      Known for his sharp mind, astute observations, and remarkable skills of deduction, Sherlock Holmes is the most influential and beloved detective in literary history. Written between 1887 and 1927 by Arthur Conan Doyle, the Holmes stories were a turning point in the evolution of crime fiction, with the original Holmes universe spanning an impressive 40 years across four novels and 56 short stories.

      The detective’s obsessive personality, unrivalled intelligence, and cold, calculating demeanour are combined with his exceptional skills of observation and deduction, making him a remarkable sleuth but an almost unbearable person to be around. Despite this, the community of Holmes fans stretches to every corner of the globe over a century after the detective’s first story was published. So, what makes the character so widely loved? And how did the Victorian London setting, combined with the author’s tragic personal life, influence the character? Explore the legacy of Sherlock Holmes and examine the detective’s story beyond his fictional adventures.

      Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 22nd May 1859 to Charles and Mary Doyle. His father struggled greatly with depression and alcoholism, and in 1864, the family were separated. Forced to live across the city with various family friends due to Charles Doyle’s drinking habits, it wasn’t until 1867 that the family came together again to live in squalid tenement flats. In 1876, Charles Doyle was dismissed from his job and sent to a nursing home for alcoholics, where he developed epilepsy. This troubling background of alcohol abuse and addiction crept from Conan Doyle’s personal life into his writing. Holmes himself is seen using cocaine and morphine (both of which were legal at the time) in many of his stories. The detective's knowledge of chemistry and anatomy is utilised to manage his usage, but Conan Doyle doesn’t attempt to hide the drug-induced mania that many addicts suffer from.

      In the same year as his father’s admission to the rehabilitation centre, Conan Doyle began studying at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. While studying, he met the man who would become the inspiration for Holmes’s iconic character. Doctor Joseph Bell (1837–1911) was a Scottish surgeon and lecturer and was considered a forensic science pioneer. He mesmerised Conan Doyle with his remarkable ability to deduce a stranger’s occupation and ailments by simply observing them. While working as Doctor Bell’s clerk at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Conan Doyle beheld the surgeon’s skills and considered the potential such abilities held outside of diagnosis. The seed of a remarkable idea was forming, and in 1887, Conan Doyle wrote the short story often considered the Sherlock Holmes prototype. The protagonists of the early piece, ‘Uncle Jeremy’s Household’, Hugh Lawrence and John H. Thurston, work together as an amateur detective duo and bear a strong resemblance to Sherlock Holmes and John H. Watson.

      Just months later, Conan Doyle altered the course of his life with the publication of the first Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet (1887). It was printed in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, and although it didn’t bring the author instant success, it was the springboard he needed. In 1889, the Managing Editor of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine invited Conan Doyle to dinner, along with the prolific Irish writer Oscar Wilde. The three dined together, and both The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) and the second Holmes novel, The Sign of the Four (1889), were commissioned in a single evening.

      Conan Doyle’s real breakthrough came in 1891 when he discovered The Strand Magazine. Proposing a series of short stories detailing a masterful detective’s adventures, he published the first short Holmes tale, ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’, in the literary magazine, then quickly signed a contract to provide one story per month. Abandoning his medicinal practices, he was able to devote himself to his writing.

      Despite Holmes’ cold and often selfish persona, his fanbase grew rapidly as Conan Doyle’s short stories continued to be released. Each issue of The Strand was available for sixpence, which was half the cost of similar publications, making the magazine an accessible form of literature. Set in the heart of fog-shrouded Victorian London, the serialised stories often highlight the drastic class divide of the nineteenth century. Holmes’ adventures stretch from the grand houses built on the wealth of the British Empire to the Dickensian side of the city, where cholera and typhoid ravaged the population and children made a living for their families in the workhouses. Despite Conan Doyle only living in the capital for a total of four years (and often presenting misinformation regarding London in his work), he successfully captured the rapidly transforming city. London is as vivid a character in the stories as the detective himself.

      Holmes is a protagonist like none other in literary history. His remarkably sharp mind and renowned skills of deduction and observation are juxtaposed with his emotional incapabilities and complete lack of empathy. Yet he remains a true Victorian gentleman, consistently taking care of his appearance and working to preserve social order. Not only does he have detailed knowledge of science, literature, and law, but he also excels in fencing and boxing and is a talented violinist. His combination of inconceivable brilliance and calculating coldness makes him fascinating.

      To this day, the name Sherlock Holmes remains more famous than Arthur Conan Doyle’s, and fans widely believed that the detective was a real individual. This possibly arose due to the stories being narrated by Doctor Watson, Holmes' trusted companion and sleuthing partner. The author often received fan mail addressed to Holmes alongside requests for his autograph and letters asking him to find their missing possessions. Avid readers began identifying as Sherlockians or Holmesians, and the more stories Conan Doyle produced, the deeper the fans’ faith in the detective seemed to go.

      There was just one problem, despite the overwhelming adoration the character had garnered, Conan Doyle couldn’t tolerate Holmes. The pressure to continually produce narratives featuring the detective weighed heavily on the author. Holmes had metamorphosed into Conan Doyle’s own version of Frankenstein’s monster, and the only plausible escape he could envision was to lay the detective’s storyline to rest permanently. He finally reached a breaking point when his father passed away after enduring a protracted period of medical intervention. In December 1893, just two months following his father’s death, ‘The Final Problem’ was published. The author was inspired to set the climactic battle between Holmes and Professor Moriarty at Switzerland's Reichenbach Falls, a location he had visited earlier in the year. When the battling pair appeared to have plunged to their demise, the public was outraged.

      The fans’ love for Holmes was so ingrained they couldn’t come to terms with the idea of never reading another story featuring the detective. Conan Doyle was less affected by the death of his protagonist. The day he wrote the ill-fated scene, his journal entry simply read, ‘Killed Holmes.’ But he began receiving threats through the post, demanding he revive the beloved character. Londoners were even reported to be wearing black armbands in mourning. The impact of the fictional death was not only felt by the author but also inflicted a blow on The Strand Magazine. Reportedly, the number of readers who cancelled their subscription to the publication amounted to over 20,000, nearly causing it to go out of print.

      Over the ensuing eight-year break, there was an inordinate demand for more Holmes stories. Entreated by the fans, Conan Doyle released a new novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), featuring Holmes but set before the detective's death. This period became known among readers as the Great Hiatus, and The Strand staff were reported to have referred to Holmes’ death as ‘the dreadful event’. The real comeback occurred in 1903 when ‘The Adventure of the Empty House’ was first published in the magazine. In a long-awaited twist, the short story is set three years after Holmes’ supposed death. Featuring the detective’s revival, Holmes reveals to Watson that he faked the scene at Reichenbach Falls to delude and escape Moriarty’s vengeful henchmen.

      The Strand published a further 12 stories before Conan Doyle again attempted to end the series in Holmes’ retirement. In an interview with the Daily Mail in 1904, the author stated that Holmes was moving to the countryside and taking up beekeeping, concluding that ‘there is not the slightest intention of his ever again entering on the work of the detection of crime.’ Yet, finding himself once more in the position of Victor Frankenstein, it was impossible for Conan Doyle to destroy the monster he had created. Three subsequent volumes of Holmes stories, including another novel, were published before the author’s death. Two are set prior to the detective’s retirement, and ‘The Last Bow’ details his service during the First World War. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927) concludes the series with a collection of short stories set before the war.

      In 1930, Conan Doyle died of a heart attack in his home at the age of 71 as one of the best-paid authors of the time. Despite the detective’s tales having come to an indisputable end, the author’s death heightened the public’s fascination with Sherlock Holmes.

      In 1934, the first official Sherlock Holmes literary society was founded by American novelist Christopher Morley. Eponymously named the Baker Street Irregulars (BSI) after the group of young street urchins Holmes occasionally called upon for assistance, the group still regularly publish a range of scholarship dedicated to their favourite literary figure. Operating as an exclusive, invitation-only club, notable members include Isaac Asimov and Neil Gaiman. There were no female members until 1991, when Conan Doyle’s second daughter, Jean, was invested. The BSI has its own printing press dedicated to publishing volumes related to Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle. The Baker Street Journal is also released quarterly by the society featuring scholarly articles and pieces revolving around the Great Game, in which fans imagine and record character backstories and history not provided by Conan Doyle. The Great Game, also known as Holmesian Speculation and the Sherlockian Game, is based on the belief that Watson is the true author of the detective’s adventures. Members must avoid using Conan Doyle’s name when attending BSI meetings and events and instead refer to him as Watson’s literary agent. Other notable societies include the Sherlock Holmes Society of London (founded in 1951) and the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, which was founded in the 1960s as an exclusive women’s society.

      Over a century since Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance, the iconic character has become a cultural touchstone. Inspiring generations of fans, filmmakers, and writers, the detective has made an ineradicable mark not only on the literary world but wider pop culture. Conan Doyle’s work altered the way readers interact with literature, prompting the formation of many dedicated fan groups worldwide, including prestigious societies and printing presses. From the smoke-filled rooms of 221B Baker Street and the spirited streets of Victorian London to the rolling countryside hills and misty moors, the Holmes stories are a rich portrayal of nineteenth-century England and enhance our understanding of the social and cultural context of the time. Conan Doyle’s literary influence will continue to captivate and inspire for many decades to come. The legacy of Sherlock Holmes is a testament to the enduring power of great storytelling.

      Lizzie Stoddart

      Bristol, 2023

      THE RETURN OF

      SHERLOCK HOLMES

      THE ADVENTURE

      OF THE EMPTY HOUSE

      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. Suppose a man had fired through the window, he would indeed be a remarkable shot who could with a revolver inflict so deadly a wound. Again, Park Lane is a frequented thoroughfare; there is a cab stand within a hundred yards of the house. No one had heard a shot. And yet there was the dead man and there the revolver bullet, which had mushroomed out, as soft-nosed bullets will, and so inflicted a wound which must have caused instantaneous death. Such were the circumstances of the Park Lane Mystery, which were further complicated by entire absence of motive, since, as I have said, young Adair was not known to have any enemy, and no attempt had been made to remove the money or valuables in the room.

      All day I turned these facts over in my mind, endeavouring to hit upon some theory which could reconcile them all, and to find that line of least resistance which my poor friend had declared to be the starting-point of every investigation. I confess that I made little progress. In the evening I strolled across the Park, and found myself about six o’clock at the Oxford Street end of Park Lane. A group of loafers upon the pavements, all staring up at a particular window, directed me to the house which I had come to see. A tall, thin man with coloured glasses, whom I strongly suspected of being a plain-clothes detective, was pointing out some theory of his own, while the others crowded round to listen to what he said. I got as near him as I could, but his observations seemed to me to be absurd, so I withdrew again in some disgust. As I did so I struck against an elderly, deformed man, who had been behind me, and I knocked down several books which he was carrying. I remember that as I picked them up, I observed the title of one of them, The Origin of Tree Worship, and it struck me that the fellow must be some poor bibliophile, who, either as a trade or as a hobby, was a collector of obscure volumes. I endeavoured to apologize for the accident, but it was evident that these books which I had so unfortunately maltreated were very precious objects in the eyes of their owner. With a snarl of contempt he turned upon his heel, and I saw his curved back and white side-whiskers disappear among the throng.

      My observations of No. 427, Park Lane did little to clear up the problem in which I was interested. The house was separated from the street by a low wall and railing, the whole not more than five feet high. It was perfectly easy, therefore, for anyone to get into the garden, but the window was entirely inaccessible, since there was no waterpipe or anything which could help the most active man to climb it. More puzzled than ever, I retraced my steps to Kensington. I had not been in my study five minutes when the maid entered to say that a person desired to see me. To my astonishment it was none other than my strange old book collector, his sharp, wizened face peering out from a frame of white hair, and his precious volumes, a dozen of them at least, wedged under his right arm.

      You’re surprised to see me, sir, said he, in a strange, croaking voice.

      I acknowledged that I was.

      Well, I’ve a conscience, sir, and when I chanced to see you go into this house, as I came hobbling after you, I thought to myself, I’ll just step in and see that kind gentleman, and tell him that if I was a bit gruff in my manner there was not any harm meant, and that I am much obliged to him for picking up my books.

      You make too much of a trifle, said I. May I ask how you knew who I was?

      I knocked down several books which he was carrying.

      "Well, sir, if it isn’t too great a liberty, I am a neighbour of yours, for you’ll find my little bookshop at the corner of Church Street, and very happy to see you, I am sure. Maybe you collect yourself, sir. Here’s British Birds, and Catullus, and The Holy War—a bargain, every one of them. With five volumes you could just fill that gap on that second shelf. It looks untidy, does it not, sir?"

      I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me. When I turned again, Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across my study table. I rose to my feet, stared at him for some seconds in utter amazement, and then it appears that I must have fainted for the first and the last time in my life. Certainly a grey mist swirled before my eyes, and when it cleared I found my collar-ends undone and the tingling after-taste of brandy upon my lips. Holmes was bending over my chair, his flask in his hand.

      My dear Watson, said the well-remembered voice, I owe you a thousand apologies. I had no idea that you would be so affected.

      I gripped him by the arms.

      Holmes! I cried. Is it really you? Can it indeed be that you are alive? Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of that awful abyss?

      Wait a moment, said he. Are you sure that you are really fit to discuss things? I have given you a serious shock by my unnecessarily dramatic reappearance.

      I am all right, but indeed, Holmes, I can hardly believe my eyes. Good heavens! to think that you—you of all men—should be standing in my study. Again I gripped him by the sleeve, and felt the thin, sinewy arm beneath it. Well, you’re not a spirit anyhow, said I. My dear chap, I’m overjoyed to see you. Sit down, and tell me how you came alive out of that dreadful chasm.

      He sat opposite to me, and lit a cigarette in his old, nonchalant manner. He was dressed in the seedy frockcoat of the book merchant, but the rest of that individual lay in a pile of white hair and old books upon the table. Holmes looked even thinner and keener than of old, but there was a dead-white tinge in his aquiline face which told me that his life recently had not been a healthy one.

      I am glad to stretch myself, Watson, said he. It is no joke when a tall man has to take a foot off his stature for several hours on end. Now, my dear fellow, in the matter of these explanations, we have, if I may ask for your cooperation, a hard and dangerous night’s work in front of us. Perhaps it would be better if I gave you an account of the whole situation when that work is finished.

      I am full of curiosity. I should much prefer to hear now.

      You’ll come with me to-night?

      When you like and where you like.

      This is, indeed, like the old days. We shall have time for a mouthful of dinner before we need go. Well, then, about that chasm. I had no serious difficulty in getting out of it, for the very simple reason that I never was in it.

      You never were in it?

      No, Watson, I never was in it. My note to you was absolutely genuine. I had little doubt that I had come to the end of my career when I perceived the somewhat sinister figure of the late Professor Moriarty standing upon the narrow pathway which led to safety. I read an inexorable purpose in his grey eyes. I exchanged some remarks with him, therefore, and obtained his courteous permission to write the short note which you afterwards received. I left it with my cigarette-box and my stick, and I walked along the pathway, Moriarty still at my heels. When I reached the end I stood at bay. He drew no weapon, but he rushed at me and threw his long arms around me. He knew that his own game was up, and was only anxious to revenge himself upon me. We tottered together upon the brink of the fall. I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me. I slipped through his grip, and he with a horrible scream kicked madly for a few seconds, and clawed the air with both his hands. But for all his efforts he could not get his balance, and over he went. With my face over the brink, I saw him fall for a long way. Then he struck a rock, bounded off, and splashed into the water.

      I listened with amazement to this explanation, which Holmes delivered between the puffs of his cigarette.

      But the tracks! I cried. I saw, with my own eyes, that two went down the path and none returned.

      "It came about in this way. The instant that the Professor had disappeared, it struck me what a really extraordinarily lucky chance Fate had placed in my way. I knew that Moriarty was not the only man who had sworn my death. There were at least three others whose desire for vengeance upon me would only be increased by the death of their leader. They were all most dangerous men. One or other would certainly get me. On the other hand, if all the world was convinced that I was dead they would take liberties, these men, they would soon lay themselves open, and sooner or later I could destroy them. Then it would be time for me to announce that I was still in the land of the living. So rapidly does the brain act that I believe I had thought this all out before Professor Moriarty had reached the bottom of the Reichenbach Fall.

      "I stood up and examined the rocky wall behind me. In your picturesque account of the matter, which I read with great interest some months later, you assert that the wall was sheer. That was not literally true. A few small footholds presented themselves, and there was some indication of a ledge. The cliff is so high that to climb it all was an obvious impossibility, and it was equally impossible to make my way along the wet path without leaving some tracks. I might, it is true, have reversed my boots, as I have done on similar occasions, but the sight of three sets of tracks in one direction would certainly have suggested a deception. On the whole, then, it was best that I should risk the climb. It was not a pleasant business, Watson. The fall roared beneath me. I am not a fanciful person, but I give you my word that I seemed to hear Moriarty’s voice screaming at me out of the abyss. A mistake would have been fatal. More than once, as tufts of grass came out in my hand or my foot slipped in the wet notches of the rock, I thought that I was gone. But I struggled upward, and at last I reached a ledge several feet deep and covered with soft green moss, where I could lie unseen, in the most perfect comfort. There I was stretched, when you, my dear Watson, and all your following were investigating in the most sympathetic and inefficient manner the circumstances of my death.

      "At last, when you had all formed your inevitable and totally erroneous conclusions, you departed for the hotel, and I was left alone. I had imagined that I had reached the end of my adventures, but a very unexpected occurrence showed me that there were surprises still in store for me. A huge rock, falling from above, boomed past me, struck the path, and bounded over into the chasm. For an instant I thought that it was an accident, but a moment later, looking up, I saw a man’s head against the darkening sky, and another stone struck the very ledge upon which I was stretched, within a foot of my head. Of course, the meaning of this was obvious. Moriarty had not been alone. A confederate—and even that one glance had told me how dangerous a man that confederate was—had kept guard while the Professor had attacked me. From a distance, unseen by me, he had been a witness of his friend’s death and of my escape. He had waited, and then making his way round to the top of the cliff, he had endeavoured to succeed where his comrade had failed.

      "I did not take long to think about it, Watson. Again I saw that grim face look over the cliff, and I knew that it was the precursor of another stone. I scrambled down on to the path. I don’t think I could have done it in cold blood. It was a hundred times more difficult than getting up. But I had no time to think of the danger, for another stone sang past me as I hung by my hands from the edge of the ledge. Halfway down I slipped, but, by the blessing of God, I landed, torn and bleeding, upon the path. I took to my heels, did ten miles over the mountains in the darkness, and a week later I found myself in Florence, with the certainty that no one in the world knew what had become of me.

      I had only one confidant—my brother Mycroft. I owe you many apologies, my dear Watson, but it was all-important that it should be thought I was dead, and it is quite certain that you would not have written so convincing an account of my unhappy end had you not yourself thought that it was true. Several times during the last three years I have taken up my pen to write to you, but always I feared lest your affectionate regard for me should tempt you to some indiscretion which would betray my secret. For that reason I turned away from you this evening when you upset my books, for I was in danger at the time, and any show of surprise and emotion upon your part might have drawn attention to my identity and led to the most deplorable and irreparable results. As to Mycroft, I had to confide in him in order to obtain the money which I needed. The course of events in London did not run so well as I had hoped, for the trial of the Moriarty gang left two of its most dangerous members, my own most vindictive enemies, at liberty. I travelled for two years in Tibet, therefore, and amused myself by visiting Lhassa, and spending some days with the head lama. You may have read of the remarkable explorations of a Norwegian named Sigerson, but I am sure that it never occurred to you that you were receiving news of your friend. I then passed through Persia, looked in at Mecca, and paid a short but interesting visit to the Khalifa at Khartoum the results of which I have communicated to the Foreign Office. Returning to France, I spent some months in a research into the coal-tar derivatives, which I conducted in a laboratory at Montpellier, in the south of France. Having concluded this to my satisfaction and learning that only one of my enemies was now left in London, I was about to return when my movements were hastened by the news of this very remarkable Park Lane Mystery, which not only appealed to me by its own merits, but which seemed to offer some most peculiar personal opportunities. I came over at once to London, called in my own person at Baker Street, threw Mrs. Hudson into violent hysterics, and found that Mycroft had preserved my rooms and my papers exactly as they had always been. So it was, my dear Watson, that at two o’clock to-day I found myself in my old armchair in my own old room, and only wishing that I could have seen my old friend Watson in the other chair which he has so often adorned.

      Such was the remarkable narrative to which I listened on that April evening—a narrative which would have been utterly incredible to me had it not been confirmed by the actual sight of the tall, spare figure and the keen, eager face, which I had never thought to see again. In some manner he had learned of my own sad bereavement, and his sympathy was shown in his manner rather than in his words. Work is the best antidote to sorrow, my dear Watson, said he; and I have a piece of work for us both to-night which, if we can bring it to a successful conclusion, will in itself justify a man’s life on this planet. In vain

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