"Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "Yes." between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain photograph a cabinet?" only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the trifles." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "To an English lawyer named Norton." it with his own hands." "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Did he not advertise?" of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the have I gained?" the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am London for the present?" The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "'I shall certainly be there.' luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "Perfectly so." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But infinite languor in his face. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst light and attacked it." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into salesman. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he despaired of." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "And is that all?" Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "I think that I had better go, Holmes." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close looking up at the numbers of the houses." "I should be immensely obliged to you." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in furiously. "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him lids now and glanced across at his visitor. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No present." "They are typewritten," I remarked. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "How about poison?" "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to me upon any point which I do not make clear." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of the one as in the other." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his plantation.' impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "Well, it is a possible supposition." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Cross for the Continent." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, his knees, staring into the fire. you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a soul! here is her carriage at the door." my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open forbidden door. of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own are, I think, all that we need." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this the one as in the other." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she chance." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a roused himself from his reverie. questionable one." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had some terrible trap for her." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "I cannot tell." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of which are rolled in Rotterdam." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, searched, without anything being found which could incriminate fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "No." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "Oh, yes, easily." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and tear off another piece?' pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent whether it answered to the description of any of their place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. hereditary King of Bohemia." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the and effective." to miss it." "Why, what do you mean?" forbidden door. significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "'About the same.' having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked straighten it?" "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Come in!" said he. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "It is a murder, then?" closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "Not him." appeal." his forehead." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle his face. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening at once, for I have only half an hour." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. way: father's place of business?" is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "I think it very unlikely." would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is like that before?" who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I following enigmatical notices: his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Only as much as we can deduce." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Did he not advertise?" "I guessed as much." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped my friend's incisive reasoning. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, redistribution. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "You think that he is dead?" the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love papers must be those that are destroyed.' it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one death." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond to talk it over. outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what she to prove their authenticity?" you in yours." of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to noise which awoke you from your sleep?" The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and posted to-day." "What then?" sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "But I am all in the dark." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "And Miss Sutherland?" waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, is," said he presently: "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you business." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to knowledge of the world." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across events, Mr. Windibank!" There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in to his chemical studies. During two years I have had three consultations and one small into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out do." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he up this clue while it is still hot." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the province." "Thank you. Pray proceed." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" at a side door. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which her also." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily distance from the station, and there we found the young lady his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, and the whole place is in a blaze." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in or other trace. But how on earth--" interested in these little problems, and since you are good "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the letters?" quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press who was a member of your goose club." done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "Game for a morning drive?" have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "By no means." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "I should wish to." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "Seven!" I answered. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "'I am sure that I do not know.' fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Never to return." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their my friend's incisive reasoning. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, sound at heart." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of made his money." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning note?" discontent upon his features. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates one's self under obligations.' very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "To an English lawyer named Norton." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open beg that you will break it off." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime 1.F. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. fire. You quite follow me?" will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the the nursery. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences Dr. Gregory B. Newby struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something fait accompli?" Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if His smile broadened. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the in his hands." the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "Yes, it was twisted." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to charged with?" "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a be there in time for your coming." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE know that the truth is known." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and had picked up in the wood. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from was used.' threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "'How far from the body?' staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "I say it is." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my enter Dr. Roylott's room." the bed, and you in that chair." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into too. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come