His Last Bow

e time is of some value, should interfere in the matter. I really have other things to engage me." So spoke Sherloc

city and also the cunning of her

lodger of mine last year," s

- a simpl

in which you brought light into the darkness. I remembered his words whe

justice, upon the side of kindliness. The two forces made him lay d

son - the matches! You are uneasy, as I understand, because your new lodger remains in his rooms and you can

te at night, and yet never to catch so much as a glimpse of him - it's more than I can stand. My husband is as nervous over it as I am, but he is out at his work all day,

hypnotic power of soothing when he wished. The scared look faded from her eyes, and her agitated

consider. The smallest point may be the most essential. You say that th

a week. There is a small sitting-room and bedr

el

ttle, and the money meant much to me. He took out a ten-pound note, and he held it out to me then and there. 'You can have t

ere the

was all right. Lodgers often have them. Also, that he was to be lef

derful in th

nor I, nor the girl has once set eyes upon him. We can hear that quick step of his pacing up and down, up

ut the first n

ld me after he had taken the rooms that he would do so and asked me

his m

chair, outside his door. Then he rings again when he has finished, and we take it down fro

nts

ght to show you - SOAP. Here's another - MATCH. This is one he left the first

he landlady had handed to him, "this is certainly a little unusual. Seclusion I can understan

d to conceal hi

y should have a word of his writing? Still, it may b

not im

let-tinted pencil of a not unusual pattern. You will observe that the paper is torn away at the side he

caut

h might give a clue to the person's identity. Now, Mrs. Warren, you say

sir - not o

give me no furt

, and yet I thought he was

was well

quite the gentleman. Dark clo

ve no

, s

no letters

on

the girl enter his

ooks after him

tainly remarkable. Wh

rown bag with him

al to help us. Do you say nothing has co

bag; from it she shook out two burnt ma

rought them because I had heard that you

ugged his

bvious from the shortness of the but end. Half the match is consumed in lighting a pipe or cigar. But, d

s,

lean-shaven man could have smoked this. Why, Watson,

r?" I su

ppose there could not be two peo

tle that I often wonder

an unusual one. He pays you well, and if he chooses to lie concealed it is no direct business of yours. We have no excuse for an intrusion upon his privacy until we have some reason to t

rse, be trivial - individual eccentricity; or it may be very much deeper than appears on the surface. The first thing that str

uld you

roof that the person who came back was the person who went out. Then, again, the man who took the rooms spoke English well. This other, however, prints 'match' when it should have been 'matches.' I can imagine that the word was taken

what poss

o other way, and fortunately we need concern ourselves with the one paper only. Here are the Daily Gazette extracts of the last fortnight. 'Lady with a black boa at Prince's Skating Club' - that we may pass. 'Surely Jimmy will not break his mother's heart' - that appears to be irrelevant. 'If the lady who fainted in the Brixton bus' - she does not interest me. 'Every day my heart longs -' Bleat, Watson - unmitigated bleat! Ah, this is a little more possible. Listen to this: 'Be patient. Will find some sure means of communication. Meanwhile, this column. G.' That is two days after Mrs. Warren's lodger arrived. It sounds plausible, does it not

standing on the hearthrug with his back to the fire

Third floor. Second window left. After dusk. G.' That is definite enough. I think after breakfast we must make a

room with an explosive energy which tol

his baggage. I would have gone straight up and told him so, only I thought it was but fair to you to ta

Mr. Warr

m roughly

used him

wn the road when two men came up behind him, threw a coat over his head, and bundled him into a cab that was beside the curb. They drove him an hour, and then opened the door and shot him out. He lay in the roadway so shaken in h

Did he observe the appearance of t

s lifted up as if by magic and dropped as if by

t this attack w

s ever came before. I've had enough of him. Money's not ever

ow that some danger is threatening your lodger. It is equally clear that his enemies, lying in wait for him near your door, mistook your husband for him

am I to do,

to see this lodger o

ou break in the door. I always hear him unlock i

. Surely we could conceal o

y thought f

te. I could arrange a looking-glass, ma

id Holmes. "Whe

t one

ome round in time. For the pr

fare at the northeast side of the British Museum. Standing as it does near the corner of the street it commands a view down Howe Street, with its more pr

now the place, and we know the code; so surely our task should be simple. There's a 'to let' card in that

l both come up and leave your boots belo

the tray, laid it down upon a chair beside the closed door, and then, treading heavily, departed. Crouching together in the angle of the door, we kept our eyes fixed upon the mirror. Suddenly, as the landlady's footsteps died away, there was the creak of a turning key, the handle revolved, and two thin hands darted out

he expectant landlady. "I think, Watson, we can

epths of his easy-chair. "There has been a substitution of lodgers. What I d

saw

work which he must do, desires to leave the woman in absolute safety while he does it. It is not an easy problem, but he solved it in an original fashion, and so effectively that her presence was not even known to the landlady who supplies her with food. The printed mes

is at the

love escapade. You saw the woman's face at the sign of danger. We have heard, too, of the attack upon the landlord, which was undoubtedly meant for the lodger. These alarms, and the desperate need for secrecy, argue that the

rther in it? What hav

on. I suppose when you doctored you found you

ducation,

is an instructive case. There is neither money nor credit in it, and yet one would wish to t

d monotone of colour, broken only by the sharp yellow squares of the windows and the blurred haloes of the gas-lamps. As

r. A single flash - that is A, surely. Now, then. How many did you make it? Twenty. So did I. That should mean T. AT- that's intelligible enough! Another T. Surely this is the beginning of a second word. Now, then - TENTA. Dead stop. That can't be all, Watson? ATTENTA gives no sense. Nor is it any better as three words AT, TEN, TA, unless T. A. are a

message,

a sudden chuckle

f course, it is Italian! The A means that it is addressed

e you hav

rice repeated to make it more so. But beware of wha

he small flame across the window as the signals were renewed. They ca

er,' isn't it? Yes, by Jove, it's a danger signal.

round the lofty building, with its tiers of shining casements. That last warning cry had been suddenly cut short. How,

Why should such a message stop in such a way? I should put Scotland Yard

go for th

ay bear some more innocent interpretation. Come. Watson,

a head, a woman's head, gazing tensely, rigidly, out into the night, waiting with breathless suspense for the renewal of that interrupted message. At the d

s!" he

nds with the Scotland Yard detective. "Journeys

, I expect," said Gregson. "How

ing up to the same tangle. I

gna

e came over to see the reason. But since it is safe in

that I was never in a case yet that I didn't feel stronger for having you

is

round, on which a cabman, his whip in his hand, sauntered over from a four-wheeler which stood on the far side of the street.

cave mystery?" said Holmes. "

hatchet face, flushed up at the words of commendation. "I am on the

iano of the

ke him on. I tracked him over from New York, and I've been close to him for a week in London, waiting some excuse to get my hand on his collar. Mr. Gregson and I ran him t

d Gregson. "I expect, as usual, he

es explained the situatio

ck his hands toge

to us!"

you th

our own account he was telling them that there was danger, he broke short off. What could it mean except that from the window he had suddenly either caught sight of

at once and see

no warrant fo

t is good enough for the moment. When we have him by the heels we can see if New

rate murderer with the same absolutely quiet and businesslike bearing with which he would have ascended the official staircase of Scotland Yard

As I did so, and as the flicker steadied into a flame, we all gave a gasp of surprise. On the deal boards of the carpetless floor there was outlined a fresh track of blood. The red steps poin

in a broad wet circle upon the white woodwork. His knees were drawn up, his hands thrown out in agony, and from the centre of his broad, brown, upturned throat there projected the white haft of a knife driven blade-deep int

lf!" cried the American detective. "S

dow, Mr. Holmes," said Gregson

t backward and forward across the window-panes. Then he peered i

e the two professionals were examining the body. "You say that three people came out from t

, I

ut thirty, black-bearde

s the last

escription, and we have a very excellent outline

lmes, among the m

I thought it best to sum

e mysterious lodger of Bloomsbury. Slowly she advanced, her face pale and drawn with a frightful ap

joy. Round and round the room she danced, her hands clapping, her dark eyes gleaming with delighted wonder, and a thousand pretty Italian exclamations pouring from

you not? You have killed Giu

police

d into the shad

ca. I am Emilia Lucca, and we are both from New York. Where is Gennaro?

ho called,"

w could

esence here was desirable. I knew that I had o

ian looked with aw

it up with pride and delight. "Now I see it! My Gennaro! My splendid, beautiful Gennaro, who has guarded me safe from all harm, he did

ttle sentiment as if she were a Notting Hill hooligan, "I am not very clear yet who you are or

that your husband will be arrested and tried for the death of the man who lies before us? What you say may be used in evidence. But if you think that he

"He was a devil and a monster, and there can be no judge in

leave things as we found them, go with this lady to her room, and for

emarkable narrative of those sinister events, the ending of which we had chanced to witness. She spoke in r

r's employment, and I came to love him, as any woman must. He had neither money nor position - nothing but his beauty and strength and energy - so my father forbade the match

the chief fruit importers of New York. Signor Zamba is an invalid, and our new friend Castalotte has all power within the firm, which employs more than three hundred men. He took my husband into his employment, made him head of a department, and showed his good-will towards him in every way. Signor

at of a giant but everything about him was grotesque, gigantic, and terrifying. His voice was like thunder in our little house. There was scarce room for the whirl of his great arms as he talked. His thoughts, his emotions, his passions, all were exaggera

ersation. Gennaro said nothing, but I, who knew him so well, could read in his face some emotion which I had never seen there before. At first I thought that it was dislike. And then, gradually, I understood that it was more than dislike. It was fear

e within its rule no escape was possible. When we had fled to America Gennaro thought that he had cast it all off forever. What was his horror one evening to meet in the streets the very man who had initiated him in Naples, the giant Gorgiano, a man who had earned the name of 'Death' in the south of Italy, for he was red to the elbow in murder! He had come

ays turned upon me. One night his secret came out. I had awakened what he called 'love' within him - the love of a brute - a savage. Gennaro had not yet returned when he came. He pushed his way in, seized me in his mighty arms, hugged me in his bear's embrace, c

ices to the police. It was resolved now that such an example should be made of him as would prevent any other victim from rebelling. At the meeting it was arranged that he and his house should be blown up with dynamite. There was a drawing of lots as to who should carry out the deed. Gennaro saw our enemy's cruel face smiling at him as he dipped his hand in the bag. No doubt it had been prearranged in some fashion, for it was the fatal disc wit

ext evening had been fixed tor the attempt. By midday my husband and I were on our way to London, but not before he had given our b

e in such a fashion that no possible danger could reach me. For his own part, he wished to be free that he might communicate both with the American and with the Italian police. I do not myself know where he lived, or how. All that I learned was through the columns of a newspaper. But once as I looked through my window, I saw two Italians watching the house, and I understood that in some way Gorgiano had found out our retreat. Finally Gennaro told

I don't know what your British point of view may be, but I guess that in

s corroborated, I do not think she or her husband has much to fear. But what I can't mak

e one more specimen of the tragic and grotesque to add to your collection. By the way, it is not eig