“He rose also and looked at me in silence, shaking his head sadly.
“ ‘Well, well,’ said he, at last. ‘It seems a pity, but I have donewhat I could. I know every move of your game. You can donothing before Monday. It has been a duel between you and me,Mr. Holmes. You hope to place me in the dock. I tell you thatI will never stand in the dock. You hope to beat me. I tell youthat you will never beat me. If you are clever enough to bringdestruction upon me, rest assured that I shall do as much to you.’
“ ‘You have paid me several compliments, Mr. Moriarty,’ said I.
‘Let me pay you one in return when I say that if I were assuredof the former eventuality I would, in the interests of the public,cheerfully accept the latter.’
“ ‘I can promise you the one, but not the other,’ he snarled,and so turned his rounded back upon me, and went peering andblinking out of the room.
“That was my singular interview with Professor Moriarty. Iconfess that it left an unpleasant effect upon my mind. His soft,precise fashion of speech leaves a conviction of sincerity which amere bully could not produce. Of course, you will say: ‘Why nottake police precautions against him?’ the reason is that I am wellconvinced that it is from his agents the blow will fall. I have thebest proofs that it would be so.”
“You have already been assaulted?”
“My dear Watson, Professor Moriarty is not a man who lets thegrass grow under his feet. I went out about midday to transactsome business in Oxford Street. As I passed the corner whichleads from Bentinck Street on to the Welbeck Street crossing atwo-horse van furiously driven whizzed round and was on me likea flash. I sprang for the foot-path and saved myself by the fractionof a second. The van dashed round by Marylebone Lane and wasgone in an instant. I kept to the pavement after that, Watson, butas I walked down Vere Street a brick came down from the roofof one of the houses, and was shattered to fragments at my feet.
I called the police and had the place examined. There were slatesand bricks piled up on the roof preparatory to some repairs, andthey would have me believe that the wind had toppled over oneof these. Of course I knew better, but I could prove nothing. Itook a cab after that and reached my brother’s rooms in Pall Mall,where I spent the day. Now I have come round to you, and on myway I was attacked by a rough with a bludgeon. I knocked himdown, and the police have him in custody; but I can tell you withthe most absolute confidence that no possible connection willever be traced between the gentleman upon whose front teeth Ihave barked my knuckles and the retiring mathematical coach,who is, I dare say, working out problems upon a black-board tenmiles away. You will not wonder, Watson, that my first act onentering your rooms was to close your shutters, and that I havebeen compelled to ask your permission to leave the house by someless conspicuous exit than the front door.”
I had often admired my friend’s courage, but never more thannow, as he sat quietly checking off a series of incidents which musthave combined to make up a day of horror.
“You will spend the night here?” I said.
“No, my friend, you might find me a dangerous guest. I have myplans laid, and all will be well. Matters have gone so far now thatthey can move without my help as far as the arrest goes, though mypresence is necessary for a conviction. It is obvious, therefore, thatI cannot do better than get away for the few days which remainbefore the police are at liberty to act. It would be a great pleasure tome, therefore, if you could come on to the Continent with me.”
“The practice is quiet,” said I, “and I have an accommodatingneighbor. I should be glad to come.”
“And to start to-morrow morning?”
“If necessary.”
“Oh yes, it is most necessary. Then these are your instructions,and I beg, my dear Watson, that you will obey them to the letter,for you are now playing a double-handed game with me against thecleverest rogue and the most powerful syndicate of criminals inEurope. Now listen! You will dispatch whatever luggage you intendto take by a trusty messenger unaddressed to Victoria to-night. Inthe morning you will send for a hansom, desiring your man to takeneither the first nor the second which may present itself. Into thishansom you will jump, and you will drive to the Strand end of theLowther Arcade, handing the address to the cabman upon a slipof paper, with a request that he will not throw it away. Have yourfare ready, and the instant that your cab stops, dash through theArcade, timing yourself to reach the other side at a quarter-pastnine. You will find a small brougham waiting close to the curb,driven by a fellow with a heavy black cloak tipped at the collarwith red. Into this you will step, and you will reach Victoria intime for the Continental express.”
“Where shall I meet you?”
“At the station. The second first-class carriage from the frontwill be reserved for us.”
“The carriage is our rendezvous, then?”
“Yes.”
It was in vain that I asked Holmes to remain for the evening. Itwas evident to me that he thought he might bring trouble to theroof he was under, and that that was the motive which impelledhim to go. With a few hurried words as to our plans for themorrow he rose and came out with me into the garden, clamberingover the wall which leads into Mortimer Street, and immediatelywhistling for a hansom, in which I heard him drive away.
In the morning I obeyed Holmes’s injunctions to the letter. Ahansom was procured with such precaution as would prevent itsbeing one which was placed ready for us, and I drove immediatelyafter breakfast to the Lowther Arcade, through which I hurried atthe top of my speed. A brougham was waiting with a very massivedriver wrapped in a dark cloak, who, the instant that I had steppedin, whipped up the horse and rattled off to Victoria Station. Onmy alighting there he turned the carriage, and dashed away againwithout so much as a look in my direction.