on, and which I devoted my whole energy to exposing
and breaking up.

"But the Professor was fenced round with safeguards so cunningly devised
that, do what I would, it seemed impossible to get evidence which would
convict in a court of law. You know my powers, my dear Watson, and yet
at the end of three months I was forced to confess that I had at last
met an antagonist who was my intellectual equal. My horror at his crimes
was lost in my admiration at his skill. But at last he made a trip--only
a little, little trip--but it was more than he could afford when I was
so close upon him. I had my chance, and, starting from that point, I
have woven my net round him until now it is all ready to close. In three
days--that is to say, on Monday next--matters will be ripe, and the
Professor, with all the principal members of his gang, will be in the
hands of the police. Then will come the greatest criminal trial of the
century, the clearing up of over forty mysteries, and the rope for all
of them; but if we move at all prematurely, you understand, they may
slip out of our hands even at the last moment.

"Now, if I could have done this without the knowledge of Professor
Moriarty, all would have been well. But he was too wily for that. He saw
every step which I took to draw my toils round him. Again and again
he strove to break away, but I as often headed him off. I tell you,
my friend, that if a detailed account of that silent contest could
be written, it would take its place as the most brilliant bit of
thrust-and-parry work in the history of detection. Never have I risen to
such a height, and never have I been so hard pressed by an opponent. He
cut deep, and yet I just undercut him. This morning the last steps were
taken, and three days only were wanted to complete the business. I was
sitting in my room thinking the matter over, when the door opened and
Professor Moriarty stood before me.

"My nerves are fairly proof, Watson, but I must confess to a start when
I saw the very man who had been so much in my thoughts standing there on
my threshhold. His appearance was quite familiar to me. He is extremely
tall and thin, his forehead domes out in a white curve, and his two
eyes are deeply sunken in his head. He is clean-shaven, pale, and
ascetic-looking, retaining something of the professor in his features.
His shoulders are rounded from much study, and his face protrudes
forward, and is forever slowly oscillating from side to si