The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (read aloud txt) ๐
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The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, published in 1894, is the second collection of Sherlock Holmes stories published in book form. All of the stories included in the collection previously appeared in The Strand Magazine between 1892 and 1893. They purport to be the accounts given by Dr. John Watson of the more remarkable cases in which his friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes becomes involved in his role as a consulting detective.
This collection has several memorable features. The first British edition omitted the story โThe Adventure of the Cardboard Boxโ which appeared in The Strand in 1893. This story did appear in the very first American edition of the collection, immediately following โSilver Blaze,โ but it was quickly replaced by a revised edition which omitted it. Apparently these omissions were at the specific request of the author, who was concerned that its inclusion of the theme of adultery would make it unsuitable for younger readers. The story was, however, eventually included in the later collection His Last Bow, but it is out of chronological position there. In this Standard Ebooks edition (as in most modern British editions), we have included this story to restore it to its correct chronological place in the Holmes canon.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is also notable because by this time Doyle had tired of the Holmes character and decided to kill him off, so that this was intended to be the last Holmes collection ever to be published. It contains several of the best-known Holmes stories, including โSilver Blaze,โ โThe Musgrave Ritual,โ and โThe Greek Interpreter,โ which introduces Sherlockโs brother Mycroft; and of course โThe Final Problemโ in which Holmes struggles with his nemesis Professor Moriarty.
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- Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
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โโโI was blue ribbon at that time, and we were putting a little money by, and all was as bright as a new dollar. My God, whoever would have thought that it could have come to this? Whoever would have dreamed it?
โโโI used to be home for the weekends very often, and sometimes if the ship were held back for cargo I would have a whole week at a time, and in this way I saw a deal of my sister-in-law, Sarah. She was a fine tall woman, black and quick and fierce, with a proud way of carrying her head, and a glint from her eye like a spark from a flint. But when little Mary was there I had never a thought of her, and that I swear as I hope for Godโs mercy.
โโโIt had seemed to me sometimes that she liked to be alone with me, or to coax me out for a walk with her, but I had never thought anything of that. But one evening my eyes were opened. I had come up from the ship and found my wife out, but Sarah at home. โWhereโs Mary?โ I asked. โOh, she has gone to pay some accounts.โ I was impatient and paced up and down the room. โCanโt you be happy for five minutes without Mary, Jim?โ says she. โItโs a bad compliment to me that you canโt be contented with my society for so short a time.โ โThatโs all right, my lass,โ said I, putting out my hand towards her in a kindly way, but she had it in both hers in an instant, and they burned as if they were in a fever. I looked into her eyes and I read it all there. There was no need for her to speak, nor for me either. I frowned and drew my hand away. Then she stood by my side in silence for a bit, and then put up her hand and patted me on the shoulder. โSteady old Jim!โ said she, and with a kind oโ mocking laugh, she ran out of the room.
โโโWell, from that time Sarah hated me with her whole heart and soul, and she is a woman who can hate, too. I was a fool to let her go on biding with usโ โa besotted foolโ โbut I never said a word to Mary, for I knew it would grieve her. Things went on much as before, but after a time I began to find that there was a bit of a change in Mary herself. She had always been so trusting and so innocent, but now she became queer and suspicious, wanting to know where I had been and what I had been doing, and whom my letters were from, and what I had in my pockets, and a thousand such follies. Day by day she grew queerer and more irritable, and we had ceaseless rows about nothing. I was fairly puzzled by it all. Sarah avoided me now, but she and Mary were just inseparable. I can see now how she was plotting and scheming and poisoning my wifeโs mind against me, but I was such a blind beetle that I could not understand it at the time. Then I broke my blue ribbon and began to drink again, but I think I should not have done it if Mary had been the same as ever. She had some reason to be disgusted with me now, and the gap between us began to be wider and wider. And then this Alec Fairbairn chipped in, and things became a thousand times blacker.
โโโIt was to see Sarah that he came to my house first, but soon it was to see us, for he was a man with winning ways, and he made friends wherever he went. He was a dashing, swaggering chap, smart and curled, who had seen half the world and could talk of what he had seen. He was good company, I wonโt deny it, and he had wonderful polite ways with him for a sailor man, so that I think there must have been a time when he knew more of the poop than the forecastle. For a month he was in and out of my house, and never once did it cross my mind that harm might come of his soft, tricky ways. And then at last something made me suspect, and from that day my peace was gone forever.
โโโIt was only a little thing, too. I had come into the parlour unexpected, and as I walked in at the door I saw a light of welcome on my wifeโs face. But as she saw who it was it faded again, and she turned away with a look of disappointment. That was enough for me. There was no one but Alec Fairbairn whose step she could have mistaken for mine. If I could have seen him then I should have killed him, for I have always been like a madman when my temper gets loose. Mary saw the devilโs light in my eyes, and she ran forward with her hands on my sleeve. โDonโt, Jim, donโt!โ says she. โWhereโs Sarah?โ I asked. โIn the kitchen,โ says she. โSarah,โ says I as I went in, โthis man Fairbairn is never to darken my door again.โ โWhy not?โ says she. โBecause I order it.โ โOh!โ says she, โif my friends are not good enough for this house, then I am not good enough for it either.โ โYou can do what you like,โ says I, โbut if Fairbairn shows his face here again Iโll send you one of his ears for a keepsake.โ She was frightened by my face, I think, for she never answered a word, and the same evening she left my house.
โโโWell, I donโt know now whether it was pure devilry on the part of this woman, or whether she thought that she could turn me against my wife by
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