Search is not available for this dataset
text
stringlengths 0
149M
|
|---|
visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known adventuress, |
Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you. |
“Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor, murmured Holmes without |
opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of docketing |
all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it was difficult to |
name a subject or a person on which he could not at once furnish |
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 upon the deep-sea fishes. |
“Let me see! said Holmes. “Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year 1858. |
Contralto—hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera of Warsaw—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. |
“Pooh, pooh! Forgery. |
“My private note-paper. |
“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. I am but thirty now. |
“It must be recovered. |
“We have tried and failed. |
“Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought. |
“She will not sell. |
“Stolen, then. |
“Five 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. There has been no result. |
“No sign of it? |
“Absolutely none. |
Holmes laughed. “It is quite a pretty little problem, said he. |
“But a very serious one to me, returned the King reproachfully. |
“Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the photograph? |
“To ruin me. |
“But how? |
“I am about to be married. |
“So I have heard. |
“To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, 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 photograph. 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 |