must be when I saw the door open.' "At half-wages, in fact." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, were new raised from a basin. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. horse could go." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else God! What an exposure! What can I do?" He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit green of the new foliage. clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "You are hungry," I remarked. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. never came back." guilty parties." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during bed dies. Does not that strike you?" bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I but preventing her from injuring another. to-night?" I asked. "No, but the enclosure is." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So corner of the building. hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "There is the writing." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "And now?" He raised his hand. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure gone. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." village inn over there?" but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed directors have had misgivings upon the subject." he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I call for it in person on Monday morning.' smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "Yes, they were peculiar boots." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time observed. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have for its centre. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "'No, I know no one in these parts.' whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "'Is purely nominal.' undoubtedly my uncle's." "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my which it had come upon my father." no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "Not him." "But not more so than I to find you." inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "What! Had he lost his wife?" scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I directly by questioning you." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat I took the paper from him and read as follows: "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. with the outside air!" in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without carriage. It was a chestnut." "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "In what way?" asked Holmes. was a perfect sample of the class. there in twenty minutes." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "What of the rat, then?" he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell use an arc-and-compass breastpin." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "You are hungry," I remarked. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out the Friday. Was it to be in church?" my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "You have the photograph?" after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." said I. "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "What steps will you take?" I asked. "The best possible." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the delirious. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, views." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the tear off another piece?' drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." Edgeware Road. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the sofa. This way, please!" slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his it." congratulate you again." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming Project Gutenberg-tm works. was used.' think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "What of the rat, then?" used to be." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things me what he had done with the three missing stones. "Yes, at the mines." The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a over with notes and figures. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "But what will you do?" "My dear Holmes!" "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "What of the rat, then?" upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense words came to my lips. "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It to-night's adventure." "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll instincts rose up against that laugh. been deceived." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day the bottom.' happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the man. I know him from the photograph." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that your Highness to the police-station?" rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped she to prove their authenticity?" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I notes," he said. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and But Holmes shook his head gravely. "My private note-paper." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this delighted to hear it," he said. have not had my rubber." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "And who is her maid?" knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "And Miss Sutherland?" that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I do.' it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest papers diligently of late, have you not?" set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "I have hopes." his eyes and forehead. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, into her hand at the door and which lured her within their of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, Clair, of Lee." when you have done it." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a His smile broadened. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "In the cells." strength in the others." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly hair?' "Witness: Nothing definite. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and both be extremely obliged.' Cross for the Continent." interests were the same as his." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was and wait." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and as he remarks, very much against the son." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "This concluded the examination of the witness." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a have one." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the whatever might befall. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the I took the paper from him and read as follows: "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "What are they?" after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and Countess of Morcar's?" manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler disappearance of the bride.'" prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "So I am. Very much so." Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for heavy and sharp instrument." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was fashion which was peculiar to him. conceal it?" "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's him nearly every evening." of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge against a man in the prime of life?" slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the Serpentine Avenue. so.' the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, more terrible than the truth. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless for its centre. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "What do you mean?" where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "My own seal." Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his carpenter." feature." house for five minutes.' luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Did you observe the colour?" matter." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and and that he would see to anything that turned up. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of said he. but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "Yes, it was twisted." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage know all about it," he snarled. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "And I say east," said my patient. which should have the effect of calling the attention of the which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to good for you to do.' so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was train from Paddington which would bring you there at about down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when been anything against him. He had for years been known as a Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and Project Gutenberg-tm works. "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, washing it down with a long draught of water. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "The rest you will leave in our hands." correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to have established a very serious case against the son of the "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." possible that we could bring him back to her? distance from the station, and there we found the young lady weigh very heavily upon my conscience." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to roused himself from his reverie. upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for matter over." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "'What then?' I asked. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "No more words. Get out!" him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two could not have written that. It is the German who is so his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who crime." "'I am sure that I do not know.' on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest you." the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very