the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house mystery may be cleared along those lines." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "ARAT," I read. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "But she will refuse." against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped frequently gained my first real insight into the character of it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Yes." his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the test if we have an answer to our advertisement." companion. years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which 'I should be able to look after that for you.' public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out breakfast and whispered something to her husband. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per the tragedy. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to will take you up to see the machine.' you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a weary and pale-looking. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to disappearance of these gems?" the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the works. See paragraph 1.E below. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I have an American origin." pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the of Mr. Rucastle's." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger Holmes' room. accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, I held the little printed slip to the light. there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Well?" near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall tell me that you intended to go into harness." which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Where to?" wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who meant it for the best. fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right before, for it was considerably after midnight. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that in a friendly supper." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike the roots. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story already referred to. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, out of this horrible affair." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "The doctor?" put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." room had already been engaged for us. shaken than I had ever seen him. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to voice, changing her seat as requested. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend joking. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free a suggestive one." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Yes. He waved his hands." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, from the brougham. that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who Sutherland?" "What then?" She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "I should like to see him very much." upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "On Monday." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for three of the beryls in it, was missing. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "Yes, sir." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "Eh? What was that?" giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "Very murderous indeed." us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "Why? What do you mean?" refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different as he remarks, very much against the son." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. jewels which you have stolen?' a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. chambers. "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the answer." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of him. enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you question. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "It is possible." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg bedroom door." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and imbecility!" he cried. face and glided from the room. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us hour." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "What will you say?" explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "Perhaps I have." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical before, for it was considerably after midnight. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a Literary Archive Foundation little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an The summons was a brief and urgent one. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, presume?" said he at last. There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited house for five minutes.' a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "Yes." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone writer." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of have I gained?" fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never His name is Francis Prosper." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it business at Coburg Square is serious." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "I think that I had better go, Holmes." can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other awaited us upon the table. indeed which he could not unravel. wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "You think that he is dead?" maiden herself was most instructive." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "'And what salary do you ask?' we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a to-night?" I asked. "'Ample.' Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. His smile broadened. affection." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. highroad, where all traces were lost. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does was it brought him the coronet? plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a there." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "By all means." During two years I have had three consultations and one small horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder noting anything else of interest. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face straighten it?" my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, you want, then?' speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no your bag." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to tightly behind him. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "My opinion is in no way altered." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "What then?" certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk said he at last. "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The national property. I was determined that the law should have its family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "His face fell immediately. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "What will you do, then?" the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "They are typewritten," I remarked. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "No more words. Get out!" "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then eavesdroppers?' I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "I have my revolver," said I. now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always horse could go." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Yes, all." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "Then I can wait in the next room." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "I say it is." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, and have this put in the evening papers." "On your arm?" "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds the very morning of the wedding." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and strength in the others." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "And how did you verify them?" princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "Yes." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself Holmes." which it had come upon my father." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. imbecility!" he cried. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the clanging. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have throat." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "I say that I have solved it." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly your equipment. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always o'clock is it?" north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in she to prove their authenticity?" unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the burst out into a roar of laughter. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, lectures into a series of tales." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "What will you do, then?" gone before you can get him to hospital." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is to-night?' his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Tired-looking or fresh?" particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. guilty parties." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are said he, "my real name is James Ryder." could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the photograph?" two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, For additional contact information: feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some good-night and bustled off upon her way. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which stepfather?" and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in