 The Final Problem
 Synopsis
Holmes tells Watson that he is expecting an assassination attempt from PROFESSOR MORIARTY, “The Napoleon of Crime”. Moriarty is brilliantly intelligent, but evil. He runs criminal London “like a spider in the centre of its web”. Holmes, however, has woven his own net around him, and on Monday next, the whole gang will be in the hands of the police. Moriarty has threatened him, so Holmes suggests that he and Watson flee to the Continent. They travel to the village of Meiringen in Switzerland. While on the train, Holmes tells Watson that their rooms at Baker Street have been set on fire – but no great harm was done. Watson and Holmes go on a walk to see the famous Reichenbach Falls, but on the way, an urgent message comes for Watson to attend an ill woman at their hotel. Watson goes, but the message is a fake. Watson rushes back to the path by the falls but Holmes has vanished – and two sets of footprints lead to the edge. Watson realises that Moriarty and Holmes must have fallen over the falls together. He finds a letter from Holmes informing him that he knew the letter was a hoax, and that he let Watson go to keep him out of trouble. He suspects that Moriarty will murder him. He tells Watson where the last evidence against Moriarty’s gang is, so that they can be mopped up and arrested.
Comments
Moriarty does not appear in the Sherlock Holmes stories as much as people think – in fact, this is the only story in which he appears in person – for one scene only!
“Again in the utter silence I heard that thin, sibilant note which spoke of intense excitement. An instant later he pulled me back into the blackest corner of the room, and I felt his warning hand upon my lips. The fingers which clutched me were quivering. Never had I known my friend more moved, and yet the dark street still stretched lonely and motionless before us.” |
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