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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