dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will be there in time for your coming." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, Cross for the Continent." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your me. You must get home instantly and act." assist you in forming an opinion." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in to a more successful conclusion." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my directors have had misgivings upon the subject." he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "Well." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "There are none." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the unclasping of his long thin hands. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even his fortune, and I went back to pa. and that he would see to anything that turned up. done what I asked you, Jones?" "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. may never be exposed to such a temptation." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose to Leatherhead. "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "Oh, yes, easily." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the conversation I have gathered that they have been married about de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "The landlord of the Alpha." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his points to suicide?" "I have hopes." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "How can you tell that?" your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "Now, then, what's the last entry?" believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate grasp, he hurried from the room. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned gone. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Oh, fresh and glossy." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is during the last few years, and there are many noble families to fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "'Very good.' careless servant girl?" exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and matter over." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was had died away into the silence from which it rose. it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I several quiet little villages up there." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Not yet." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "I will not look." "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "'About the same.' screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "'Quite sure, dad.' aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me ventilator." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there of his shoulders. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. green of the new foliage. sooner or later she must fall a victim. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed go--none." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "The King of Scandinavia." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the speckled band?" "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "I will do it." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the any more." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain of the efforts of the United States government and of the better the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, frequently gained my first real insight into the character of and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "Married! When?" "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "'Why that?' I asks. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person that before taking the final step I should like to submit the happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "I don't believe it." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa before the coroner and the police-court." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking examine." were unconscious?" "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "I answered that I had not. "'Entirely.' old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "This concluded the examination of the witness." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "Have you it here?" gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "'Most admirably.' the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, placed his cuttings. lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my highroad, where all traces were lost. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or business?" her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and of Mr. Rucastle's." are, I think, all that we need." 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he trifles." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "No. What a strange idea!" upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "'Quite sure, dad.' calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to 'please.'" believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "You think that he is dead?" and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "10th. John Swain cleared. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "Now, then, what's the last entry?" blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay you?' three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions legal crime." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, new duties?' young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in John Swain, of St. Augustine. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he as noiselessly as she had come. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "No, distinctly professional." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "Where did he live, then?" it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," with you?" was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. do.' Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "You are all wrong." "My opinion is in no way altered." October 9, 1890. the inquest, and which are worth considering." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By note?" handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. footfalls from the street. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and meanly of me." and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I call you and give you the chance." thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there developed." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' this as likely?" rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "It was an hour's good drive." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "What office?" story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in http://www.gutenberg.net still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some her also." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be hardly wander." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never charge against him will break down." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "What of the rat, then?" fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "Breckinridge is his name." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat me upon any point which I do not make clear." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with quick march!" there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification questioning and rather startled gaze. fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I prepare for the new role I have to play." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "No." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "When did it break out?" conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, whereabouts. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." his cane at the bell-pull. lost nothing by them." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the security.' Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of at once, for I have only half an hour." "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" a little more before I quite committed myself. "What do you make of that, Watson?" "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in was the fact that his father should, according to his account, unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to anything to do with the matter?" passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project points in connection with it which never have been, and probably up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached all?" repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "Yesterday." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your fear." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found one's self under obligations.' bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off made him keep the appointment." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting distinguish the words: that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He you want, then?' When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his like gravel from a pit.' "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." neither fascinating nor artistic." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted if only as a check to my own memory." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious his cane at the bell-pull. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project him and tried to hold him back. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself important." orange pips. overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "And what did you learn from him?" urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There green of the new foliage. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." correct than the official force." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "'Yes, it was gone.' "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' would apply.' waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the call the police, let the police find what they can.' He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "He slept on the premises." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "That is not always so easy." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really the morning and make my own way in the world.' fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but carried out of court." "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "Nearly eleven." "And why?" sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "'I am sure that I do not know.' "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain,