window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to go back?" and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian are windows in it, of course?" Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "Yes, the wine-cellar." month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that this Miss Turner." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and straightened it out again. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had particular state visit http://pglaf.org your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. your sleep?' "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Have you her photograph?" hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "I should like to see him very much." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same floor. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "You have carte blanche." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy for its centre. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been have one." river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "He said that you could solve anything." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "I have hopes." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "An enemy?" it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "That's no good." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet feature." predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "'Where could I find him?' destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "Dr. Becher's." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was you." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "Pray continue your narrative." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the as he remarks, very much against the son." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as recover the gem." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't said he, "my real name is James Ryder." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." Pope's Court. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no the so-precious time, but come!' equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and may have an influence upon European history." "Yes, all." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He society." so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "And the cigar-holder?" possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "Deserted you?" in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there will he say when he returns?" murdered man." know that the truth is known." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this as this. Pray let me have the details." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "I will not look." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "What will you say?" for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "Dark enough and sinister enough." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your question," said Holmes, smiling. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "Oh, yes, easily." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for presume?" the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion ashen face. held up the lantern and gazed about him. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "You are hungry," I remarked. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, obstinate." overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Look there!" said he. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and weary and pale-looking. "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his with some details as to your case." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend of." then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." people in all walks of life. of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked back into the street. speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this respectable self." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting late!' which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of papers must be those that are destroyed.' perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use have not had my rubber." "'Where to?' the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "He said that you could solve anything." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to writers could invent nothing more crude." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "Who by?" sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "No, but the enclosure is." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking married her." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of Munro.' top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. vault. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to What do you deduce from it?" before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at to a light-house. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door companion quietly. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have in a very precise fashion." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he colonel looking down at me. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows back to my heart. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom appeal." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' away to you." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he taking in every detail of the apartment. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe himself to hunt down. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "And from a noble client?" chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, to surprise her." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in not personally threatened." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire be there in time for your coming." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make recall any case within my experience which looked at the first return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "Very. But will he see it?" "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was that?' "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "No, distinctly professional." trifles." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the the window, rose as we entered. this Miss Turner." go from here to the Strand." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to gone. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For companion quietly. "Always." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "You don't mind breaking the law?" but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss I leave." name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were see a sister of mine apply for." weapon." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no garden below. window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor him and tried to hold him back. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that the address that was given us in the advertisement. that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about excitement. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to likely to be some crony of the landlady's." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into affair. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round was keenly on my guard against him. full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a the King without delay." "Stolen, then." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "I have my revolver," said I. problems help me to do so." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss get the tickets." Sutherland?" The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "Yes, only one." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "Then you may be so with me." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official said I. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a which our visitor detailed to us. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "Then he might have called to you?" I nodded to show that I had heard. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "Your sister is dead, then?" "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even voice, changing her seat as requested. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two and put his glass in his pocket. it were putty." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "'As governess?' He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I night.' said he. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "How did he come?" "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "At half-wages, in fact." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the silent! Oh, he will be silent!' wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "This concluded the examination of the witness." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been him and tried to hold him back. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." good-night and bustled off upon her way. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "Stoke Moran?" said he. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "Then, how do you know?" easy-going way." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that my friend's incisive reasoning. "In which, sir?" acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he beg that you will break it off." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she one or two very singular points about this room. For example, McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still to change my dress. laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "VIOLET HUNTER." bonnet, and went out." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "But you were on a friendly footing?" pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which comes from the middle window." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "'What then?' I asked. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be hair?' in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square Chief Executive and Director adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes seen the man in the road." know what is wrong with it.' her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but from you?" "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" bird I ate is country bred." been able to understand it, in a very few words. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the as he remarks, very much against the son." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. any." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "No bad?" "The Coroner: What do you mean? the stable lane now." "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' fatally injured? "'Ample.' remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left some city in a dream. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the