about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. neither fascinating nor artistic." that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress address. rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in London for the present?" I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "How about poison?" your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest carpenter." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "'Where to?' "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "At the wedding breakfast." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "I have come for advice." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the business at Coburg Square is serious." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander ordinary clothes on?" was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the it. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the have been better. It is all right." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His back to my heart. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not young Openshaw's." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." you, my dear young lady?' so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words some water from a caraffe. answered with a sidelong glance. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "No, I think that I'll take it." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly once more for Briony Lodge. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It the inner apartment." signal between you and your father? IS her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them instincts rose up against that laugh. "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "It is no ordinary one." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "Yes, they were peculiar boots." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out details." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "'Yes, I promise.' 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" Arthur Conan Doyle 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now retorted upon me, and I on you." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "To an end?" post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he me what he had done with the three missing stones. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" done what I asked you, Jones?" When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "I don't believe it." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he laugh and put his lips to my ear. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "And now?" He raised his hand. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "'And the work?' "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry one or two very singular points about this room. For example, sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall way: "Always." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties arrangements." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." a very grave face. "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, my former friend and companion. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said felt?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round stood on the top of it. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came never will be, entirely cleared up. "At what time?" of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. you." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or 1.F. "Have you it here?" man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "No." have established a very serious case against the son of the when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger ceremony." was a lad." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally felt?" "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "Really! You surprise me." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, My friend smiled. lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "Do you know him?" "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a that there was nothing in it, after all." idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police to-night's adventure." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got did not hear it also.' "'Yes, I promise.' those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "Very. But will he see it?" brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged existence." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Get out!" said he. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is the station." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "She walked into the breakfast-room." His smile broadened. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then became a certainty. ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not Chief Executive and Director "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a Holmes' room. forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had said I. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I unclasping of his long thin hands. tension within him. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is tell them apart.' "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "We must have a cab." and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his where we are going." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for hair?' from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly dramatic, in fact." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up is four-and-twenty." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and if only as a check to my own memory." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "How about poison?" "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from prison!" way in everything. "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. instituted." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. any." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in was it brought him the coronet? Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove Lestrade of Scotland Yard." fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was forebodings. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just clanging. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to lost his Christmas dinner." "'What then?' I asked. I am not easy in my mind about them." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "Precisely." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a held up the lantern and gazed about him. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose companion imperturbably. are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I help us in this matter." on re-entering her father's house?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my means taking possession of that which another person has a prior treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "'Why that?' I asks. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging clanging. returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "In the cells." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "'Yes, it was gone.' have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off and a shock of very red hair. do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my have one." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or some water from a caraffe. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." mystery may be cleared along those lines." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father it." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "'Never.' because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" papers on the sundial.'" in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening wanted for ourselves." up this clue while it is still hot." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. there in twenty minutes." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I depend upon your compliance." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "You have compromised yourself seriously." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' my little problems." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a http://gutenberg.net/license). severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else extraordinary contortions. persecution?" for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with voice, changing her seat as requested. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it has little to do with my story." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. foresight and the moral retrogression?" come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had nice household for a young lady." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all to a light-house. "Frequently." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "How did you deduce the select?" severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders in my life." penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "'Not at all. I only doubt--' overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, I am not easy in my mind about them." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their infinite languor in his face. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no But Holmes shook his head gravely. follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" you." becomes even more simple." anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "That is unusual in a young girl." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique suddenly upon us." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "And why in hopes?" the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "I fear not." "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in been shamefully used." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom gigantic client. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the