hot to hold him. he retired, came to
london, and again acquired an evil name. it was at this
time that he was sought out by professor moriarty, to whom
for a time he was chief of the staff. moriarty supplied
him liberally with money and used him only in one or two
very high-class jobs which no ordinary criminal could have
undertaken. you may have some recollection of the death of
mrs. stewart, of lauder, in 1887. not? well, i am sure
moran was at the bottom of it; but nothing could be proved.
so cleverly was the colonel concealed that even when the
moriarty gang was broken up we could not incriminate him.
you remember at that date, when i called upon you in your
rooms, how i put up the shutters for fear of air-guns? no
doubt you thought me fanciful. i knew exactly what i was
doing, for i knew of the existence of this remarkable gun,
and i knew also that one of the best shots in the world
would be behind it. when we were in switzerland he
followed us with moriarty, and it was undoubtedly he who
gave me that evil five minutes on the reichenbach ledge.
"you may think that i read the papers with some attention
during my sojourn in france, on the look-out for any chance
of laying him by the heels. so long as he was free in
london my life would really not have been worth living.
night and day the shadow would have been over me, and
sooner or later his chance must have come. what could i
do? i could not shoot him at sight, or i should myself be
in the dock. there was no use appealing to a magistrate.
they cannot interfere on the strength of what would appear
to them to be a wild suspicion. so i could do nothing.
but i watched the criminal news, knowing that sooner or
later i should get him. then came the death of this ronald
adair. my chance had come at last! knowing what i did,
was it not certain that colonel moran had done it? he had
played cards with the lad; he had followed him home from
the club; he had shot him through the open window. there
was not a doubt of it. the bullets alone are enough to put
his head in a noose. i came over at once. i was seen by
the sentinel, who would, i knew, direct the colonel's
attention to my presence. he could not fail to connect my
sudden return with his crime and to be terribly alarmed.
i was sure that he would make an attempt to get me out of the
way _at once_, and would bring round his murderous weapon
for that purpose. i left him an excellent mark in the
window, and, having warned the police that they might be
needed -- by the way, watson, you spotted their presence
in that doorway with unerring accuracy -- i took up what
seemed to me to be a judicious post for observation, never
dreaming that he would choose the same spot for his attack.
now, my dear watson, does anything remain for me to
explain?"
"yes," said i. "you have not made it clear what was
colonel moran's motive in murdering the honourable ronald
adair."
"ah! my dear watson, there we come into those realms of
conjecture where the most logical mind may be at fault.
each may form his own hypothesis upon the present evidence,
and yours is as likely to be correct as mine."
"you have formed one, then?"
"i think that it is not difficult to explain the facts.
it came out in evidence that colonel moran and young adair
had between them won a considerable amount of money. now,
moran undoubtedly played foul -- of that i have long been
aware. i believe that on the day of the murder adair had
discovered that moran was cheating. very likely he had
spoken to him privately, and had threatened to expose him
unless he voluntarily resigned his membership of the club
and promised not to play cards again. it is unlikely that
a youngster like adair would at once make a hideous scandal
by exposing a well-known man so much older than himself.
probably he acted as i suggest. the exclusion from his
clubs would mean ruin to moran, who lived by his ill-gotten
card gains. he therefore murdered adair, who at the time
was endeavouring to work out how much money he should
himself return, since he could not profit by his partner's
foul play. he locked the door lest the ladies should
surprise him and insist upon knowing what he was doing with
these names and coins. will it pass?"
"i have no doubt that you have hit upon the truth."
"it will be verified or disproved at the trial. meanwhile,
come what may, colonel moran will trouble us no more, the
famous air-gun of von herder will embellish the scotland
yard museum, and once again mr. sherlock holmes is free to
devote his life to examining those interesting little
problems which the complex life of london so plentifully
presents."
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