"Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "How are you getting on?" conversation I have gathered that they have been married about in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of companion. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced papers must be those that are destroyed.' a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same even so self-evident a thing as that." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "That also I could fathom." the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, present." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving plantation.' finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, nice household for a young lady." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" down in his armchair and closing his eyes. your co-operation." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window weigh very heavily upon my conscience." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting strength." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "But his left-handedness." "No legal papers or certificates?" out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "I cannot imagine." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for was a lad." "What!" he roared. before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." that "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, here." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the I approached. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. gone. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "By no means." "So it appears." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Was your sister dressed?" great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I my former friend and companion. "Nothing?" that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "I say that I have solved it." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying unkempt, staring out at me. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his at my own good fortune. "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private face and glided from the room. the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' narrative." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the train.' you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "I am all attention, madam." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried in this way: lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being thought that she would have been so carried away." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" people don't know." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Your French gold?" "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more young Openshaw's." infinite languor in his face. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took http://gutenberg.net/license). With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements with her." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper important." 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man to change my dress. "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to cost them two and thirty pounds." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so woman." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "About a month then." complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the charged with?" of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "And now?" I asked. Chief Executive and Director light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. address. transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a important." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I any more." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third of the way of danger. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing fattened it expressly for you.' it." new acquaintance to Baker Street. for the market.' Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting bedroom door." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind to Leatherhead. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone happened." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he works. See paragraph 1.E below. "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and together. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. to some other building. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit His smile broadened. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general for and were ordered to this address. "And leave your case unfinished?" spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and which it had come upon my father." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at been able to understand it, in a very few words. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "When did she vanish, then?" upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "It was an hour's good drive." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his little adventures." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the again, where I was soon asleep. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed started for the Temple to see my husband. to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "But how?" have been better. It is all right." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at II. thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "I cannot imagine." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "One horse?" interjected Holmes. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "'What then?' I asked. "No bad?" o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. not fit the lock." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in pictures, libraries, or plate. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "I am following you closely," I answered. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "Get out!" said he. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "I have solved it." "Oh, yes, easily." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "We have tried and failed." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a was shining brightly. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as The police have openly confessed that they can at present make the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should Sutherland. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "Yes, but only for you and me." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" it." though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an and looked back. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "Certainly, madam." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. the date of his supposed suicide." For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last there were one or two details which were new to me. But the time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some do." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a security.' of Fenchurch Street." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the fat-encircled eyes. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "I was sure that I might rely on you." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little shadow pass over his face as I spoke. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we thin legs towards the fire. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is the coronet in his hands?" fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest have an American origin." bird of prey. "Dr. Becher's." wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "What office?" relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "None." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "Then he might have called to you?" pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the are, I think, all that we need." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "Yes." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned assist you in forming an opinion." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "'Is purely nominal.' tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, at my own good fortune. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "Precisely." them, and came down just as you departed. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. awkward doing business with an alias." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a Holmes' face clouded over. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen walking." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "How did you trace it, then?" cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been redistribution. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "But she could not love him." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "I am still in the dark." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was to-night." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "Witness: I must still refuse. a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "No, finished." hard-headed British jury." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. astonishment. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "'Stolen!' he cried. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and the matter." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "No, I had a dozen." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter had died away into the silence from which it rose. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can must be when I saw the door open.' "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "It is very clear." hand, madam?" dear old homesteads?" "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." nothing of it?" pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up humiliation." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but will be renamed. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that future lives." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this stammered. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated companion. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Ah, but I was recommended to you." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly definite end. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me completely overtopped every other consideration that we both moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as tear off another piece?' rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "Married! When?" whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "Then he might have called to you?" "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. dead, shall be safe with us." to-morrow." "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with