很长的故事。分成了两次读完。
上一次，是某个夜晚，因为结婚而搬出去的华生不知不觉又来到贝克街。刚好福尔摩斯收到一张纸条，告知晚上来访。他们一起猜测了一下纸条的主人，并一起接待了这位访客——波西米亚的国王。
国王说，要娶公主了，三日后就要订婚。但几年前却与一位歌剧演员Adler女士有段风流情事。现在人家威胁要把之前的情书，及一张两人的合照，于订婚那天寄给他的未婚妻。
他知道必须要把照片拿回来?？墒前侔闵璺ㄒ膊恢勒掌南侣?，只好冒着风险来找福尔摩斯。福尔摩斯接了这个案子，留下了他的及ADLER女士的地址，然后跟华生说，明天下午3点，请再来这里一趟。有事需要你帮忙。
今天的故事，便从第二天下午3点，华生又来到贝克街开始。
华生来到贝克街坊，等了一个多小时，才等到乔装成一个跛脚的穷老头的福尔摩斯一瘸一拐地回来。然后，福尔摩斯对他说了上午去Adler女士那边打探的情况。
“What a morning I've had, Watson," he said. "As you can guess from my disguise, I visited Miss Adler's house in order to watch her. There was nothing unusual about Briony Lodge. But I did observe a large sitting room on the main floor, with very large windows.
他度过了一个非常奇妙的上午。他说。他乔装打扮去那边看了一下，发现那边没什么特别的，且Adler女士的家有间特别大的客厅，有着特别大的窗户。然后，他发现Adler女士和一位来往亲密的律师先后上了一辆马车去了一个教堂。待他匆匆赶过去，假装路人走进教堂的时候，竟被他们拉去当了一回证婚人。
”To my great surprise, Godfrey Norton ran to me and dragged me to the altar. He said they needed a witness to make the wedding legal. And before I knew it, I had helped the couple become newlyweds!
然后，他跟华生说了他的计划，这个计划，需要华生的帮助。他会想办法进去那个大客厅，想办法把窗户打开。然后，华生就往里面扔一个烟雾弹，造成房子着火的假相。然后，就大声喊：着火啦！然后到街角去等他就好了。
“Now, Watson," he answered, "I need your help. We must be at Briony Lodge at seven this evening when Miss Adler --- or should I say, Mrs. Norton -- returns home. I have already made arrangements for others to help us there. I will enter the house. Someone will then open the window to the sitting room. When I signal to you from inside, you must throw this through the window.
Holmes handed me a small tube and explained that it was a smoke bomb.
”Then," he continued, "you will yell 'Fire' as loudly as you can. Others will join you in raising the alarm. Finally, you will wait for me at the end of the street. "
福尔摩斯的打算，是让Adler女士亲自告诉他照片藏在哪里。据他的推测，这张照片如此珍贵，断不可能会交托给别人，所以肯定藏在那个房子里。而且他怀疑，照片就在那间客厅里。他说，如果Adler女士发现房子着火了，肯定会先冲去抢救她最珍贵的财产，即那张照片。
“I suspected that the photograph was in the sitting room," he said. "I also knew what would happen when she heard the cry of 'Fire.' She would try to rescue her most valued possession -- the photograph.
最终，他的计划奏效了吗？当然。
