The Valley of Fear (adapted), Arthur Conan Doyle
The Valley of Fear (adapted)
Arthur Conan Doyle
Category: Novels
Genres: Mystery,Thriller,Adventure
Level 3.281:39 h46.8 mb
A strange message and a mysterious murder bring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to one of their most dangerous cases. As Holmes searches for the truth, he discovers that the crime began many years earlier in a violent mining town in America. There, a secret society rules through fear, and a young man named Jack McMurdo joins its ranks. But McMurdo has secrets of his own, and every step brings him closer to a deadly confrontation... This is an adapted version of the novel, shortened and simplified to A2 level.

The Valley of Fear

[adapted]

by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Valley of Fear (adapted)

Part One.
The Birlstone Mystery

Chapter 1.
The Warning

“I think...” I began.
“I should hope so,” Sherlock Holmes said impatiently.

His answer annoyed me, but Holmes did not notice. He sat at the breakfast table and looked closely at a letter. First he studied the paper, then the envelope.

“It is Porlock’s writing,” he said. “I have only seen it twice before, but I am almost sure. If this letter is from Porlock, it is very important.”
“Who is Porlock?” I asked.
“Porlock is not his real name,” Holmes replied. “He is a small part of a much greater and darker organization. He has some contact with Professor Moriarty.”

I knew the name.
“Professor Moriarty, the great criminal?”
Holmes smiled. “The law cannot prove that he is a criminal. To the public, he is a famous scientist. In secret, he is the cleverest and most dangerous man in England. He plans crimes, but no one can connect them to him.”

Holmes explained that Porlock sometimes felt guilty and secretly sent him information. Holmes had also helped him with small amounts of money. These warnings had stopped crimes before they happened.

Holmes placed the paper on the table.

534 C2 13 127 36 31 4 17 21 41
DOUGLAS 109 293 5 37 BIRLSTONE
26 BIRLSTONE 9 47 171

“It is clearly a coded message,” Holmes said.
“But without the key, we cannot read it,” I answered.

Holmes agreed. He believed the numbers referred to words in a book, but Porlock had not told them which book.
“I expect another letter,” Holmes said. “It may explain everything.”

A few minutes later Billy, the page, brought another letter.
Holmes opened it quickly. At first he looked pleased, but then his face became serious.
The letter said:

Dear Mr. Holmes,

I cannot help you any more. It is too dangerous. He suspects me. I wanted to send you the key to the code, but he came to see me before I could do it. Please burn the coded message.

Fred Porlock

Holmes looked into the fire.
“Perhaps Moriarty only made Porlock afraid,” he said. “Or perhaps he really knows that Porlock has betrayed him.”

He pointed to the writing.
“Look at the envelope and then the letter. The writing on the envelope is calm. The writing inside is shaking. Porlock was terrified.”
I looked again at the coded message.
“It is frustrating,” I said. “The answer is here, but we cannot read it.”

Holmes lit his pipe and began to think.
“The message comes from a book,” he said. “The first number is 534, so that is probably the page. Then we have C2. That must mean column two. The book is large and has two columns on each page.”
He continued to reason.
“If Porlock expected me to own the same book, then it must be a very common book.”

I suggested the Bible, but Holmes shook his head.
“There are too many different editions,” he said. “The page numbers would not match.”
After thinking about several books, I suggested an almanac.
Holmes smiled.
“Excellent, Watson.”

He opened the newest copy of Whitaker’s Almanack and tried the code, but the words made no sense.
Then Holmes suddenly laughed.
“We are using this year’s book. Porlock probably used last year’s.”

He found the old almanac and tried again. This time the words formed a message. Together we read it:

There is danger. It may come very soon. One Douglas, a rich gentleman who now lives at Birlstone House, is in great danger.

“The message is clear,” Holmes said. “Someone plans to attack a man named Douglas at Birlstone.”
He was pleased that his reasoning had solved the code.

Just then Billy opened the door and showed Inspector Alec MacDonald of Scotland Yard into the room.

MacDonald was a skilled young detective who respected Holmes and often asked for his help.
“I have a new case,” he said. “The first hours are always the most important.”

Then his eyes fell on the paper with the decoded message.
He stared at it in shock.
“Douglas... Birlstone...” he said. “Where did you get those names?”
Holmes explained that they had just solved a coded message.

MacDonald looked from Holmes to me.
“It is unbelievable,” he said quietly. “Mr. Douglas of Birlstone Manor House was murdered last night.”

Chapter 2.
Sherlock Holmes Explains

Inspector MacDonald was surprised, but Holmes was calm.
“This is remarkable,” Holmes said. “I am interested, but not surprised. We received a warning that a man was in danger. Now we learn that the warning was true.”
Holmes showed MacDonald Porlock’s two letters and explained the coded message.

“I was already going to Birlstone,” MacDonald said. “I came to ask if you and Dr. Watson would come with me. But perhaps we should stay in London and find this Porlock.”

“I do not think so,” Holmes replied.
“If we find Porlock,” MacDonald said, “we may solve the whole case.”
“But how will you find him?” Holmes asked. “Porlock is not his real name. I promised never to try to discover who he is.”
“You even sent him money without following him?”
“Yes. I gave him my word.”
“You believe someone stands behind him?”
“I know it,” Holmes answered. “Professor Moriarty.”

MacDonald smiled.
“Many people at Scotland Yard think you worry too much about this professor. I met him myself. He seemed to be a polite and learned gentleman. He even explained astronomy to me.”

Holmes laughed.
“You met him in his study. Did you notice the expensive painting on the wall?”
“Yes.”
“It was painted by Jean-Baptiste Greuze and is worth a great deal of money. Professor Moriarty earns only seven hundred pounds a year. How could he own such a painting?”

MacDonald thought for a moment.
“Then he must have another source of money.”
“Exactly,” Holmes said. “That is only one small clue, but many small clues point to the same man.”

Holmes explained that Moriarty was like Jonathan Wild, a famous criminal from the past who organized other criminals instead of committing crimes himself.
“Moriarty controls a large criminal organization,” Holmes said. “His closest helper is Colonel Sebastian Moran. I know Moran receives six thousand pounds a year. Moriarty also keeps money in many different banks so that no one knows how rich he really is.”

MacDonald listened carefully.
“But how does this help us with the murder?”

Holmes nodded.
“There are two possibilities. First, Mr. Douglas may have betrayed Moriarty, and this murder was his punishment. Moriarty allows only one punishment for betrayal: death.”
“And the second?”
“The murder may simply be business. Someone may have paid Moriarty to arrange it. If there was robbery, that idea becomes stronger.”
“Either way,” MacDonald said, “the answers are in Birlstone.”
“I agree,” Holmes replied. “We will find nothing useful in London.”

MacDonald looked at his watch.
“We must leave at once.”
Holmes quickly changed into his coat, and we went with the inspector to Victoria Station.

During the journey, MacDonald told us what little he knew. His friend, White Mason, the local detective, had sent him a private letter asking him to come as quickly as possible. The letter said:

Dear Inspector MacDonald,

The official request is in another envelope. This note is for you. Come to Birlstone on the first train you can catch. If possible, bring Mr. Holmes. This is an extraordinary case. It almost seems like a play, except that there is a dead man in the middle of it.

“Your friend sounds like a good detective,” Holmes said.
“He is,” MacDonald answered.

The official report gave only a few facts.
The dead man was John Douglas. He had been killed by a shotgun blast to the head. The alarm had been raised close to midnight. The police believed it was murder, but no one had been arrested. The case already seemed very strange.

Holmes listened quietly.
“At present,” he said, “we know only two things for certain. A great criminal mind is in London, and a dead man lies in Sussex. Our task is to discover the link between them.”

Chapter 3.
The Tragedy of Birlstone

Before I describe what Holmes, Inspector MacDonald, and I saw, I must tell what happened at Birlstone before we arrived. Later, we learned these facts from the people who were there.

Birlstone was a small old village in Sussex. About half a mile away stood the ancient Manor House, surrounded by a wide moat. Every evening the drawbridge was raised and every morning it was lowered, so during the night the house became an island. This unusual detail would soon become very important.

John Douglas and his wife had lived there for about five years. Douglas was about fifty years old, strong, brave, and friendly. People said he had made his money in the California gold fields, and he had spent many years in America. The villagers respected him because he was generous and never feared danger.

Mrs. Douglas was a beautiful Englishwoman much younger than her husband. She lived quietly and seemed devoted to him, but people noticed that she often became anxious when he was away. Few people knew anything about Douglas’s past.

The only visitor who came often was Cecil Barker. He had known Douglas in America and was one of his closest friends. Barker was a wealthy Englishman, about forty-five years old. He was strong, confident, and popular in the house. He was also friendly with Mrs. Douglas, and sometimes this seemed to make Douglas unhappy. The other important members of the household were Ames, the butler, and Mrs. Allen, the housekeeper.

At 11:45 that night, Cecil Barker ran to the local police station. He told Sergeant Wilson that John Douglas had been murdered. The sergeant hurried to the Manor House with Dr. Wood. The drawbridge was already down, the house was full of frightened servants, and Barker calmly led them into the room where Douglas lay dead.

Douglas was lying on his back in the middle of the room. He wore a dressing gown over his nightclothes. A short shotgun lay across his chest. It had been fired at very close range, and the terrible wound showed that he had died at once.

“We must touch nothing,” the sergeant said.
“Nothing has been moved,” Barker answered.

He explained that he had heard the shot at about half past eleven. He ran downstairs and found the room door open. Douglas was already dead. Barker lit the lamp, but before he could examine the room, he heard Mrs. Douglas coming. He hurried outside and stopped her from entering. Mrs. Allen took her away.

The sergeant looked around the room.
“But the drawbridge was raised,” he said. “How could the murderer escape?”
Barker pulled back the curtain. The window was wide open. On the windowsill was a bloody footprint.
“The killer escaped through the window,” Barker said. “He crossed the moat.”

The sergeant frowned.
“If that is true, he must have entered the house before the bridge was raised.”
Ames confirmed that the drawbridge had been raised at about six o’clock because visitors had stayed for tea.