his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a furiously. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was use an arc-and-compass breastpin." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "I think that it is very probable." "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your it." cigars in the box." you for a few hours?" the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is a few minutes he said that it would be all right. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, noble correspondent could be. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I do you make of it all?" ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "It was." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, hour?' his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," clanging. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "Who was the criminal, then?" have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present Holmes. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not may have an influence upon European history." colonel looking down at me. opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong here and I will read it to you: I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such letters?" The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet dear old homesteads?" for the market.' bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my examination of the premises, but without finding anything which 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper really the only notable feature about the thing." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all without a word or a look. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, unprofitable." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "Frequently." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must some city in a dream. outsides of the windows. "Seven!" I answered. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he gigantic client. "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? think you a quite exceptional woman." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his me what he had done with the three missing stones. at once, for I have only half an hour." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a could go. neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project colonel looking down at me. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "'Not at all. I only doubt--' society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the you understand?" "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "And for present expenses?" The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," depend upon my doing so.' said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." open." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "I am about to be married." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in For additional contact information: year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the situation." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking outside. events, Mr. Windibank!" Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a next day. uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its shoulder; "he's all right." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "I have seen the police." Munro.' "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "Were they all fastened this morning?" "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the certainly do as you advise." frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "And for present expenses?" far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There His smile broadened. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug there in twenty minutes." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "Have you it here?" some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many gigantic client. entirely lost his self-respect." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Of Friday, June 19th." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "That is it on the dressing-table." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, voice. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a the matter?" action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw future lives." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, would apply.' that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "My private note-paper." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two wife's character?" other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements distinguish the words: least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "We were both in the photograph." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there do." name is different." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set present." lectures into a series of tales." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention amused." "He slept on the premises." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the might have a private word with us. posted to-day." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the neither fascinating nor artistic." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "None." "Only as much as we can deduce." and the colonel ushered me in. purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must drawing your inferences." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the that he will be back before evening." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to province." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. might help us?" never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Never." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "And for present expenses?" events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Whose house is it?" roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' or in danger--" galvanised. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any trying to your nerves." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a copied or distributed: "My last client of the sort was a king." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship Holmes' room. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double walking." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. drove away. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had which our visitor detailed to us. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any seven miles from Eyford Station.' with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "It is true that I have been generally successful." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "I have a cab outside." Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no redistribution. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it just ask you whether you had heard it.' parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must nice household for a young lady." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of done what I asked you, Jones?" "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "How many? I don't know." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, populous neighbourhood." During two years I have had three consultations and one small I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and families. Now for the facts. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from sound at heart." "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The will be renamed. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the highly," said Holmes. have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle was already answered. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "The King of Scandinavia." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other bell. Holmes whistled. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence recover the gem." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the new duties?' that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and you?" call it cruel." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be there!' handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "Absolutely none." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after deduce something from that?" off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "'And what salary do you ask?' some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices the devil!" Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "That also I could fathom." "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very guilty one." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Did you observe the colour?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has certainly not very gracious." "Not in the least." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very room. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "I never have." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "Where is it, then?" an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to it? Did I buy the geese off you?" the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Yes." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "And when will you call?" The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He ready to-morrow?' see a sister of mine apply for." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I gentleman's clothes. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." I nodded again. brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved