"Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, what I may call a really hard day's work." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for prison!" that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, he. horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning for and were ordered to this address. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do wedding?" IS could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this closing the door. "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. who was a member of your goose club." "'Is purely nominal.' Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Pray do so." "Pray continue your narrative." Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, at my own good fortune. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "I beg pardon." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked awkward doing business with an alias." his cane at the bell-pull. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "I was afraid that you were engaged." bearing upon the case." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to there!' to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but not fit the lock." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage hurried by. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "And how did he make his money?" chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "And did you observe any change in her then?" you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive not within a twentieth part of the market price." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but perplexity from it to my illustrious client. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their DISSOLVED. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. papers diligently of late, have you not?" assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, my special province." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "That was it, sir." abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his get the tickets." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as keep the flames under. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is the roots. despaired of." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Your sister is dead, then?" delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "What then?" fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss and no precautions can guard against." the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea that he has suffered." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. where she found matters as described by the last witness. to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, his huge brown hands. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss companion. a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he in my life." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in crime. soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of presented which may be striking and bizarre without being salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few with frightened eyes at his accuser. have one." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, true." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss morning." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I fire. You quite follow me?" "How did that help you?" "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an distance from the station, and there we found the young lady If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was again on its way. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which there." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been own family. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "Where is it, then?" "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "Witness: Nothing definite. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to use an arc-and-compass breastpin." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "Oh, yes, easily." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "9th. McCauley cleared. John Swain, of St. Augustine. collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an never will be, entirely cleared up. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet upon the shelf for the interim." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Stolen, then." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "By train from Waterloo." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "That is also quite modern," said the lady. chance at all." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as that been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the was feeling which was the fattest.' into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming eat it." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a said he, "my real name is James Ryder." weighed down with some great anxiety. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So in a friendly supper." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "It is no ordinary one." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we individual and becomes the badge of a society." villagers almost as much as their master. works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg from you?" "I was mad--insane." "So I have heard." and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of is acting for the best. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Certainly." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "And sit in the dark?" ran thus: have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his careless servant girl?" although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I I leave." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and interests were the same as his." "Texas, I think." plantation.' Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down 1.F. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "I will do it." thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "To an end?" "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your asked with his eyes open. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and and that he would see to anything that turned up. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of extraordinary contortions. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the look dissatisfied." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "Yes, it would be as well." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to I. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "That also I could fathom." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the have I gained?" near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of Gutenberg-tm License. word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to now. It seems that there had been some informality about their that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "Where did he live, then?" misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set Sholtos." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with of Fenchurch Street." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already as he folded up the epistle. Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "By all means." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith be.' heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black to have that photograph." "Did you become engaged then?" his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently you understand?" business." are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "Very much so." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." Arthur Conan Doyle us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "You horrify me." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Yes. He waved his hands." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and fat-encircled eyes. delighted to hear it," he said. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a her also." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly along the entire front of the house, with three long windows and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In him to go away.' the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I chair. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Certainly." out." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I morning." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but forehead. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "'Yes.' "You forget that I know nothing about it." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which business at Coburg Square is serious." "'Certainly not.' "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Stoke Moran?" said he. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "I will get her to show me." are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where and the church but not where the lady lived." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "By all means." keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself,