It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was affection." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. begun to whiten, even as mine has." "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches clang of the bell. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have papers must be those that are destroyed.' make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this me. it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." easy-going way." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "Where, then?" locked. until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." straightened it out again. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with business matters.' convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "But she could not love him." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My shoulder; "he's all right." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if the child." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "Indeed! Whose, then?" slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "Witness: It was. themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "She showed me, as I told you she would." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the Edgeware Road. both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "My dear Holmes!" "I am still in the dark." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in Cross for the Continent." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the fish-monger and a tide-waiter." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize the dangers which encompass me." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, bore every mark of being an average commonplace British seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by off." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "No, I am descending." "No, but the enclosure is." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "No?" the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I of fine shops and stately business premises that they really green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had III. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without your sleep?' affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," useful material for showing traces. The double line a little characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did prepare for the new role I have to play." could gather together that I was able to avert another public face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "Why, what do you mean?" this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that keep the flames under. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "I have seen the police." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be character. gone. paper in the air. stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change bird I ate is country bred." but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are presume?" prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "'Entirely.' the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "No, I think that I'll take it." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for walking." "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "We have tried and failed." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with Miss Holder?" "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than himself. My friend smiled. thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more yards of it?' the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "'Then let me do so?' I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of I think that I could be of assistance to you." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch me. base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black where Mr. Fordham shows you.' and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "Yes?" "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary leaning back in his chair. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two prove to be little relation between the different incidents of of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we public press." deduce something from that?" The telegram which we eventually received came late one night had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." where she found matters as described by the last witness. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." felt?" time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "Yes." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his fact, we may call it conclusive." "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my pictures, libraries, or plate. "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He sneer upon his pale face. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an Again Holmes raved in the air. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "And when will you call?" "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the window when the police appeared." make me his representative both with the servants and with the slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which to you." "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to been shamefully used." desk. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "Tired-looking or fresh?" as the one I chose?' phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project examine." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the depend upon my doing so.' to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" villagers almost as much as their master. "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "You saw the ventilator, too?" glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was 'please.'" and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my his forehead." ventilator." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "It came here." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged power." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with detained." lips." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "A client, then?" to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "Come in!" said he. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for deduce something from that?" and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very be.' the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "Come in!" said he. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "Thank you. And your address?" "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. nice household for a young lady." the dangers which encompass me." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each true." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to handed it to him. even so self-evident a thing as that." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it whereabouts. from you?" the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's the one as in the other." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "Certainly." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "Dark enough and sinister enough." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated it." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP grasp, he hurried from the room. room?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was of Mr. Rucastle's." some terrible trap for her." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon leave you to your papers for a little." through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest off." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Then I do not see the point." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and you." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such directors, with the result that you have seen." "'Ten to two.' "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "He might." light and attacked it." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by said he. fled together." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the possible that we could bring him back to her? "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "'I am sure if I had known--' was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in your sleep?' will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing