once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "Look there!" said he. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "One horse?" interjected Holmes. large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "I shall most certainly do so." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." affair. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father security.' certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." if only as a check to my own memory." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was examine." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is recover the gem." "My photograph." o'clock is it?" "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "They are typewritten," I remarked. "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Yes, sir." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." have not had my rubber." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I redistribution. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "No bad?" strength of mind to control. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and disappearance of these gems?" was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. and effective." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as annoyance, but no jest. "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we are, and they are waiting for us." "That is easily got." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Then you may be so with me." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was to affect your life." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "Then I shall certainly come." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any chance." off." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of the running down." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." prepare for the new role I have to play." six. Come in!" "Here?" reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her the ceiling. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire notes," he said. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' taking in every detail of the apartment. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "Oh, yes, easily." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" quick march!" "What then?" "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in do." heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to tell me that you intended to go into harness." of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady works. See paragraph 1.E below. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and grasp, he hurried from the room. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was roused himself from his reverie. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "But I have heard all that you have heard." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we thin, with a long, sharp nose?" house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. as he remarks, very much against the son." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so Leave Paddington by the 11:15." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the breakfast and whispered something to her husband. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain already referred to. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an which are rolled in Rotterdam." look dissatisfied." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter think that any burglar could have done. receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy man. I know him from the photograph." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. approach us with offers to donate. Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is visitors." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now 'please.'" reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of than was visible to me." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "A client, then?" most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "Then I am your man." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were writing, and yet I know it well." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "'Not at all. I only doubt--' previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to walking." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, little adventures." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. undoubtedly my uncle's." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy may have an influence upon European history." "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "The doctor?" Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg beyond words. "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently intrusion of other matters." why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush at home. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would there is a decided draught." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such matter." of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and you do it in twenty minutes!' given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "How did that help you?" no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock as this. Pray let me have the details." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "It missed him, then?" My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are kind enough to tell me what I should do." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before cigar and let me expound." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be meant." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "'Where to?' there when the Rucastles went away." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "She told me to ask you." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look is," said he presently: ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "You did not overhear what they said?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "I cannot tell." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in colonel looking down at me. "Look there!" said he. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and me upon any point which I do not make clear." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits which we had just quitted. What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I away into the river." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a lumber-room." writers could invent nothing more crude." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. footfalls from the street. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "And on what day did he meet his death?" "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "At what time?" adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed to me. he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of you in yours." the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the Gutenberg-tm License. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the quite distinctive." "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "One of the highest in England." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. annoyance, but no jest. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to we went to search for him, face downward in a little company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on case-book, which he consulted. that, and I came down." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "She walked into the breakfast-room." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but a good hundred miles off by now." that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "I will not look." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "I assure you that I am in your hands." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "But his lameness?" said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they crime. Holmes." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "I was afraid that you were engaged." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "'Certainly not. But why?' official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a comes from the middle window." nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project touch that coronet?' that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative