Все приключения Шерлока Холмса / All adventures of Sherlock Holmes

But I don’t want to be a common murderer.”

“Do you consider, doctor, that there is immediate danger?” asked the Inspector.

“Most certainly there is,” I answered.

“In that case, sir,” said the Inspector, “please, give your account.”

“I’ll sit down, with your permission,” said Jefferson Hope. “This aneurism of mine makes me easily tired. I’m dying and I do not want to lie to you. Every word I say is the absolute truth.”

With these words, Jefferson Hope leaned back in his chair and began.

He spoke in a calm and methodical manner.

“It doesn’t much matter to you why I hated these men,” he said; “they were guilty of the death of two human beings-a father and a daughter. Therefore, they forfeited their own lives. A lot of time passed since their crime. It was impossible for me to secure a conviction against them in any court. I knew of their guilt though, and I was the judge, jury, and executioner.

It happened twenty years ago.

I wanted to marry that girl. She was forced into marrying[64 - she was forced into marrying – её силой выдали замуж] that same Drebber, and she died. I took the marriage ring from her dead finger, and I wanted to show it to my enemies. Their crime must be punished. I was following Drebber and his accomplice over two continents. If I die tomorrow, I will die happily. My work in this world is done, and well done. There is nothing for me to hope for, or to desire.

They were rich and I was poor, so that it was not easy for me to follow them. When I got to London my pocket was empty, and I found some work. I can drive and ride, so I applied at a cabowner’s office, and soon got employment. The hardest job was to remember the streets, this city is very confusing.

I found out where my two gentlemen were living. They were at a boarding-house at Camberwell, on the other side of the river. I had my beard, nobody could recognize me. I was following them until I saw my opportunity.

They could not escape me again.

Sometimes I followed them on my cab, and sometimes on foot, they could not get away from me. They were very cunning, though. They never went out alone, and never after nightfall. During two weeks I drove behind them every day, and never once saw them separate. Drebber himself was always drunk, but Stangerson was sober. I watched them late and early, but never saw the chance.