可以搜索公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】或者添加【luluxjg2】咨询课程or加入社群，查看文稿和其他精彩内容哦~

波西米亚丑闻-3

Through the smoke, I saw people moving quickly in the sitting room, and soon I heard Holmes’s voice saying it was a false alarm.

I moved through the noisy crowd and went to the end of the street, where I waited for Holmes. Ten minutes later, he showed up. We walked quickly and quietly for several blocks until we reached a quiet street off Edgware Road.

“You did very well,” Holmes said. “Everything went according to plan.”

“Do you have the photograph?” I asked.

“I know where it is,” Holmes replied.

“How did you find out?” I wondered.

“She showed me, just as I planned,” Holmes said with a smile.

“I still don’t understand,” I said.

Holmes laughed. “My plan was actually very simple. You saw how everyone in the street helped. Thanks to the king of Bohemia and his generous payment, they all got a little richer today.”

“I guessed that,” I said.

“When the fight started, I squeezed some red paint onto my hand. Then I rushed forward, fell down, and put my hand on my face to look like I was badly hurt. It’s an old trick,” Holmes explained.

“I figured that out, too,” I said.

“Then they carried me inside. I knew Mrs. Norton wouldn’t leave me hurt on the street. I was taken into the sitting room, which I suspected had the photograph. The king’s men must have tried to break into her bedroom, but Mrs. Norton is too smart for that.”

“They put me on the couch, I asked for some air, the maid opened the window, and you did your part.”

“How did that help?” I asked.

“It was very important. When people think their house is on fire, they instinctively try to protect what they value most. It might be a child or a valuable item. For Mrs. Norton, the most valuable thing was the photograph.

“The ‘fire’ was very convincing—all that smoke and noise made it seem real. Mrs. Norton acted just as I hoped. The photograph was hidden behind a sliding panel. She went straight to it, and I saw her pull it out through the smoke.”