In the spring of 1894, the most eye-catching case in London was the mysterious murder of Mr. Ronald Adair. The occurrence of this criminal case also made the upper class of the entire city of London...

There has been a large-scale panic in society. Now many people have learned the whole story of this case through the case investigation report released by the police. However, some details of the entire case have been deliberately deleted by the police. The reason why they are like this is

Because the case for prosecution was already quite strong, they did not feel any need to release all the evidence to the public. Only now, 10 years after the case ended, did the police allow me to add some indispensable details in the process of solving this case.

.Although this case is intriguing, this little bit of fun is nothing compared to its unexpected results. I have experienced countless adventures in my life, but this case is the one that surprised and shocked me the most.

The ending. Even though 10 years have passed, I still feel horrified when I think of this case. I can still relive the surprise, excitement, and doubtful mood at that time. Those emotions are now like a sudden influx of tides, all at once.

Flooded my mind. Now, let me say something from my heart to those readers who still care about the few words of the extraordinary talent I accidentally mentioned: Please don’t blame me for not letting you share it with me.

If I hadn’t personally ordered me not to disclose everything I knew about this case, I would have told everyone everything I knew in time. You know, this ban was not enforced by him until the 3rd of last month.

Cancel.

It is not difficult to imagine that because I was a good friend of Sherlock Holmes, I gradually became very interested in criminal cases. After the disappearance of Sherlock Holmes, I would read carefully every time there was a mystery case published in the newspaper.

No matter how busy I am, I will never miss it. In order to satisfy my hobby of criminal cases, I have tried more than once to explain these cases using the solving methods used by Sherlock Holmes, although not every time I succeeded. But there was no success.

The mystery of Ronald Adair attracted me as much as the one about Ronald Adair. When I read the evidence given in the police interrogation and used it as a basis to convict the suspect or some of the suspects of deliberate murder, I knew in my heart that Sherlock Holmes

What a great loss the disappearance has brought to the entire society. If this leading detective in Europe was still alive, his quick mind and well-trained observation skills would be enough to make up for the police's lack of ability to solve crimes.

The case can be solved as soon as possible. Although I am busy visiting doctors every day, all I can think about is this case, and I can't find any reason to defend myself. Here, I am willing to risk telling you an old story.

Risk, but also briefly tell everyone the facts of the case that have been announced after the trial.

Ronald Adair is the second son of Earl Melouse, the governor of a British colony in Australia. He lives with his mother, Miss Hilda, who returned to China for cataract surgery at No. 427 Park Road, London. Returning to London

Later, Ronald Adair often visited London's upper class society. He had no bad habits and no people who hated him. After arriving in London, he lived with a family named Edith Wood in Castles.

Miss Leigh was engaged, but their engagement was broken off by mutual consent a few months ago, and no one saw any nostalgia for Ronald Adair's brief engagement. Ronald

Adair was aloof by nature and liked an unchanging pace of life. He usually spent his time in a small and relatively closed social circle, and this leisurely and undisciplined life lasted until 10 o'clock in the night of March 30, 1894.

At 11:20, it suddenly ended with the announcement of his death.

Ronald Adair usually likes to play cards to kill time, but the bets are never so big as to damage his identity, and he is also a member of the three clubs of Bagtel, Baldwin and Cavendish. member. On the day he was killed, he went to the Cavendish Club to play after dinner. That afternoon, he also played cards at the Cavendish Club. Colonel Moran, Sir Hardy and Mr. Murray testified that that afternoon they played a game of cards called whist. At that time, each of them drew similar cards, and Adair lost less than 5 pounds. Adair was originally He is very rich, so winning or losing like this will not have much impact on his life. Although Adair usually plays cards either in this club or in other clubs, he plays very cautiously and often wins. Their testimony also mentioned that a few weeks ago, Adair and Colonel Moran, as partners, won more than 420 pounds from Lord Balmoral and Mr. Milner. This is the police Records of Adair's current situation in the investigative report.

At exactly 10 o'clock in the evening on the night of Ronald Adair's accident, when he returned home from the club, his mother and sister went to their relatives' house in London. According to the maid, she heard Ronald Adair After I got home, I walked directly into his living room, which was a room located in the front hall on the second floor. At that time, she was lighting a fire in the room. Because the smoke was too heavy, she opened the window to ventilate it. This continued By 11:20 p.m., Mr. Adair's house was very quiet before Mrs. Merus and her daughter came back. After Mrs. Merus came home from relatives, she wanted to say good night to her son, but she found her son's room The door was locked. She and Adair's sister knocked on the door and called him, but when their son didn't respond, they thought it was something fishy, ​​so they called for servants to break the door open. After entering the room, they found Adair's head. He was shot and fell next to the table in a terrible look. No weapons were found in the room. There were only 11 pounds 10 shillings gold and silver coins placed on the table, as well as two 10 pound banknotes, some amounts. A large casino exchanged chips. In addition, there was a note recording the names and numbers of several club friends. It can be seen that Adair was calculating his winnings and losses in playing cards before he was killed.

The results of the police's on-site investigation made the whole case extremely complicated. First of all, they could not provide any reason to prove why Adair locked the door from the inside. The person who inserted the door could only be Adair's murderer. After killing Adair, he escaped through the window. It seemed that the distance from the window sill to the ground was 30 feet. Under the window was a flower bed full of crocuses. If the criminal escaped through the window, he would definitely leave footprints, but the flowers There was no such discovery on the grass or on the grass. Therefore, we can only be sure that Adair locked the door himself. If the killer shot outside the window, the fatal result of one shot shows that this person is a good shooter. Also, the park The road is located in a prosperous area of ​​London. It has always been a place with constant flow of people, not to mention that the carriage station is less than 100 meters away from this house. If the killer shoots to kill, the gunshot will definitely be heard by others. As I said before , Adair did not have any enemies in London, and no one had touched the property in his house after he was killed. These circumstances made the whole case extremely complicated.

Not long after this case happened, my mind was full of doubts about this case all day long. I wanted to find a reasonable reason to solve these doubts. I even wanted to find a shortcut to solve this mystery, which was what my friend Sherlock Holmes had done.

The source of all the case investigations mentioned. One evening, I was walking on Park Road. When I walked to Oxford Road, which is connected to Park Road, at almost 6 o'clock, I saw a group of idle people gathered on the street, looking up.

Looking at the window of a house. They also pointed to that house specifically for me to see. Someone in the crowd was telling some of his speculations about the Adair case. Judging from the fact that he had black eyes and was wearing casual clothes,

I guessed that this person might be a detective. Out of curiosity, I tried to get as close to him as possible, wanting to hear this person's opinions on the case, but his opinions were really not flattering to me, so I started again with disgust.

I withdrew from the group of people. Just as I was about to leave, I accidentally bumped into the slightly disabled old man behind me, and knocked a few books held by the old man to the ground. If I remember correctly

Well, when I bent down to help the old man pick up books, I saw one of the books titled "The Origin of Tree Worship". From this information, it can be seen that the old man likes to collect some unknown books, and he may also be named after them.

This profession may be just a hobby, or maybe he is just a poor book collector. While helping the old man pick up the books he dropped on the ground, I sincerely apologized to the old man for my recklessness. Maybe it was because he happened to be touched by me on the ground.

Because the old man valued these books so much, the old man didn’t even listen to what I had to say. He grabbed the books from my hand with a roar, turned around and walked away. I was very embarrassed at the time, but I could only stand still.

There I watched his gray sideburns and curvy figure disappear in the crowd.

After that, I personally went to No. 427 Park Road for an on-site inspection, but this did not help the problem I wanted to understand at all, because this is a house separated from the street by only a half-fence and a low wall, and the wall is only 5 feet high.

The height is so high that anyone who wants to get there can easily get in. But the window on the second floor has nothing to climb on because there is nothing to climb on the outer wall, so it is very difficult for anyone to climb up. After completing the field survey, I feel better than before.

I was even more confused, so I had to return home to Kensington. Less than five minutes after I got home, my maid suddenly came into the study and told me that someone wanted to see me. To my great surprise, it was not someone else who came to visit me.

He is a second-hand book collector who behaves a bit erratically.

"I didn't expect it to be me, sir." He said to me in a strange and hoarse voice.

I have to admit that I never expected the visitor to be him.

"I'm here because I feel sorry for myself, sir. Just now, as I was limping down the street, I happened to see you entering this house. I said to myself, I must go in and give it to the kind man.

The gentleman apologized and told him that if my attitude just now was a little rude, but I really didn't mean any harm, and now, I have to thank him in person for helping me, a disabled old man, pick up the book."

"You attach too much importance to such a trivial matter." I said quickly, "Can I take the liberty of asking you how you recognized me?"

"Sir, if I am not too presumptuous, I can be considered your neighbor. The small bookstore I open is on the corner of Church Street. You probably also have a collection of books, sir. You already have "Birds of Britain" and "Birds of Britain" here.

"Cturath", "Holy War"... Oh, if you get 5 more books, you can fill up the gap on the second level, right, sir? The books I have there are very cheap, and each one is very valuable.

Cheap."

I was a little moved by his words, and turned my head to look at the bookcase behind me. When I turned around again, I found my old friend Sherlock Holmes standing at the desk and smiling at me. I stood up in surprise and stood up straight.

I stared at him for a few seconds, and then, I felt like I was going to faint. This feeling was the first time in my life, and maybe the last time, as a white mist swirled in front of me.

After the white mist dissipated, I discovered that my collar had been undone, and the spicy aftertaste of brandy still lingered on my lips. My friend Holmes was leaning over my chair, holding his bag with him.

The bottle of brandy that came.

"My dear friend..." I vaguely heard a very familiar voice say: "I'm very sorry for this. I never thought that you would be so unable to bear the fact that I appeared in such a dramatic way.

."

I seized Holmes's arms.

"Oh my God, Holmes!" I couldn't help shouting loudly, "Is this really you? Are you not dead? Then how did you climb out of that terrible abyss?"

"Please wait a moment!" said Holmes, "now do you really think that there is a spirit? It seems that my dramatic appearance has given you a great stimulation."

"Don't worry, I'm fine now. But to be honest, Holmes, I just can't bring myself to believe it. God! There are so many people in this world, why are you the only one standing in my study talking to me now?" I

I grabbed one of his sleeves again and touched his thin but strong hand, "But no matter what, you can't be a ghost or a dream." I said excitedly, "My dear friend, seeing you

I am so happy. Please sit down, my friend, and tell me how you escaped from that terrible canyon!"

Holmes sat down opposite me. He still lit a cigarette calmly as before. His body was wrapped in a shabby long coat worn only by booksellers, with only the visible part exposed.

There were piles of white hair and old books on the table. He was obviously thinner and more alert than before. There was a hint of paleness in his eagle-like face, which easily made me see that his life had been very irregular recently.

"I'm glad I can straighten my waist now, Watson," he said. "It turns out that it's not necessarily a joke to shorten a tall man for hours on end. How to explain all this?

, dear old friend, we - if we are still partners - have yet another evening of hard work to do, and perhaps the best thing to do is that when we have finished this work, I will leave all

I’ll tell you this with a grain of salt!”

"Of course I really want to know everything that has happened there recently. I even wish you could tell me right now."

"So, do you want to go run something with me tonight?"

"Of course, I can go anywhere with you at any time."

"Haha, you are still the same as before. Before we set off, we still have time to have some dinner, that's it! Let me first tell you about the canyon you care about most. Escape from that canyon, for me

It’s not a very difficult thing. As for the reason, it’s very simple: I didn’t fall into any canyon at all.”

"Are you sure you didn't fall in?"

"I didn't fall in, Watson. I never fell in from the beginning, but the message I left you was completely true. When I felt that the sinister-looking Professor Moriarty

When I stood on the narrow path leading to safety, I knew that my end was coming. From his gray eyes, I sensed a sinister intention, so I went over and talked with him for a few words, and got

With his gentlemanly permission, I wrote the text message you received later. Then, I left my cigarette case, cane, and the letter to you there, and walked along the long and narrow road towards the direction.

I walked forward. At this time, Moriarty was still following me. When I reached the end, I found that I had no way to go. When Moriarty attacked me, he did not use any weapon, but suddenly

He rushed over and hugged me, trying to push me off the cliff. Because at that time, he already knew that everything was over for him, and he was just eager to take revenge on me. In this way, the two of us started wrestling on the edge of the cliff of the waterfall. But

I have learned some Japanese wrestling skills, and I have used them many times when I was in danger. This time was no exception. I withdrew from his arms holding me and pushed him out. He was in mid-air.

He screamed, kicked his feet wildly a few times, and scratched in the air with nothing to hold on to. Despite this, he was still unable to maintain his balance and fell off the cliff. He fell for a long time, and finally

The body hit a rock under the waterfall, was bounced again, and then rolled into the rapids."

I was extremely surprised to hear what he explained while smoking.

"But how do you explain the footprints there?" I said a little excitedly: "Those are the footprints of two people walking forward on that road that I saw with my own eyes, and none of the footprints went back."

The actual situation is like this. At the moment when the professor fell off the cliff, I suddenly realized that fate had arranged a golden opportunity for me. I knew that Moriarty was not the only one who had vowed to kill me. Except for him at least

There are three other people. Their urge to take revenge on me will become extremely strong because of the death of their leader. These three people are all very dangerous people. Among the three people, one of them will definitely come to me for revenge. Moreover, if

If everyone in the world believes that I am dead, then these three people will take action and surface quickly, so that I will have the opportunity to eliminate them. Only after they are completely eliminated can I announce

The news that I am still alive. The human brain moves so quickly. I firmly believe that I have thought about all this before Dr. Moriarty completely sank into the deep pool under the Reichenbach Falls.

I immediately stood up and observed the cliff behind. Later, in your article and the vivid description that I read with great interest, you were sure that it was a cliff. What you said was not correct. In fact, there are still exposed parts of the cliff.

There are several narrow footholds outside, and one of them is a bit like a ledge. If a person wants to climb up such a high cliff from below, it is obviously impossible. Even if he succeeds, he

It is also impossible to walk along that wet narrow path without leaving footprints. Of course, I can also use the deceptive trick of wearing shoes backwards as I did on similar occasions in the past, but if I don’t want to leave footprints on the same

There are three pairs of footprints in the direction, which may make people think that this is a trick of servants. Therefore, in general, the best way is to risk climbing up. You must understand that this is not an easy task, Watson.

The waterfall beneath my feet was rumbling. Although I am not a very imaginative person, it is no exaggeration to say that I seemed to hear Moriarty's voice shouting at me from the abyss. There were many times when

Before my hands could grasp the grass around me or my feet slipped from the wet rock gap, I thought I was doomed. So I climbed up with all my strength, and finally climbed up to a piece of land that was several feet wide.

A ledge covered with soft green moss, where I could quite comfortably lie unnoticed. My dear friend, while you and your companions were searching for me in the most sorrowful and ineffective way.

At the death scene, I was lying on the ledge.
To be continued...