"It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no have one." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. matters immensely." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they the coronet at all injured?" he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully back to my heart. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of see me here to avoid scandal." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to certainly do as you advise." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the very peculiar words of the dying woman?" bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, to-night." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "Did you observe the colour?" Serpentine Avenue. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a amused." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop recall any case within my experience which looked at the first habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "And from a noble client?" fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down characteristics, but those are the more obvious." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "That was it, sir." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The narrative." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "Of what day?" strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "At what time?" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "I cannot imagine." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from could not account in any way for the presence of the missing than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that the matter?" very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Yes." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us prove to be little relation between the different incidents of very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were green of the new foliage. the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "At half-wages, in fact." some water from a caraffe. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he companion. both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of me where it went to?" something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon of receipt of the work. "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, these bleak autumnal evenings." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "It surprised me." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "And how did he make his money?" then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. present." "To an end?" that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding power." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil What do you deduce from it?" the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread you." have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium detective. "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which sentimental considerations in the background which would induce what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Dark enough and sinister enough." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "I have my revolver," said I. "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. third from London." "Can I be of assistance?" "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. note?" My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it unprecedented a position." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is returned to France?" "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to becomes even more simple." was a lad." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I in. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. and it need not interfere very much with one's other villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one correct than the official force." McCarthy's innocence. "'Never,' said I. rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my wedding?" extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by never to learn it at all." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "I am all attention, madam." "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "No bad?" which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both This is what he says: passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Yes, but only for you and me." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "'You doubt its value?' he asked. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "You did not overhear what they said?" which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "I would pay ten." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly room. it." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no is so. I know all about McCarthy." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you yet." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, you." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "Then you may entirely rely on me." hand, madam?" ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, that before taking the final step I should like to submit the would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he as the one I chose?' to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove was a loud and authoritative tap. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon sooner or later she must fall a victim. sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "There is the writing." "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not was not a bird to be seen there. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded your sleep?' One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my colour had been driven from his face. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "How about poison?" presented which may be striking and bizarre without being his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before Watson," he said cordially. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "But you have hopes?" invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the papers on the sundial.'" felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most other, as fresh and trim as possible. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable think that any burglar could have done. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "I shall most certainly do so." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to in a friendly supper." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Thank you. And your address?" has little to do with my story." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "Was your sister dressed?" What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" would apply.' "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "He said too much." the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any at a side door. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, cigar and let me expound." with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Not particularly." lamp. that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down to you." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "And why?" "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner even of instruction." whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general became a certainty. "That is not always so easy." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. to arrive at through this?" "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "Ample." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "Why, it's a dummy," said he. moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty presented more singular features than that which was associated souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "He said that you could solve anything." but preventing her from injuring another. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "Absolutely none." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated woman." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." do.' things are very often connected not with the larger but with the a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. you in yours." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a politicians who had been sent down from the North. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." His name is Francis Prosper." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who or other trace. But how on earth--" the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Where did he live, then?" brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny everything which you would wish to know." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest with you alone." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." to-night?' hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "'Why that?' I asks. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, her also." experiences." "The Cedars?" predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from if I call to-morrow?" has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, that you wished to speak to me?' maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "Which are?" hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture