"No legal papers or certificates?" returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it garden below. one which it was hard to resist. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the as the one I chose?' when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could over part of the map. "What do you read?" he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. with you?" I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "'Quite sure, dad.' "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of right! Sit down and let us talk it over." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." drove away. it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to I have it here in my museum." "But who is he?" case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." astonishment. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "By no means." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the I have it here in my museum." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and you." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and crime. aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in was a loud and authoritative tap. address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "And your mother is alive?" "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between papers must be those that are destroyed.' south, for the country is more deserted there." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "Was your sister dressed?" pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful chambers. "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I anything to do with the matter?" that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer showing my impatience. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." it. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "Holmes, the busybody!" retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "The rest you will leave in our hands." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility must compliment you." "Ha! you find it so?" upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." few hundred pounds.' "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "Yes." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My away into the river." late!' the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He you?" tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "'What then?' I asked. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "The best possible." "Where, indeed?" appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from gbnewby@pglaf.org as the one I chose?' of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when to have been novel and of interest." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this breakfast?" particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside I was concerned in it." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Then I can wait in the next room." nights." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little crime. other lovers by making love himself." the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very off." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then passage and a tap at the door. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several six. Come in!" "Yes, from Horsham." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "Then the page we have seen--" paper in the air. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I breakfast?" should be so warm over such a trifle." spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a room. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and than to us. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood certainly not very gracious." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "An accident, I presume?" old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the strong and stiff." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean tied." that police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "But you were on a friendly footing?" to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It everything which you would wish to know." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was look upon these things in a different way." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window look upon these things in a different way." "Well." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. maid will bring up your coffee." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "I am still in the dark." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" Cross for the Continent." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and some place of shelter and let the county police know what has of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. out of this horrible affair." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and we went to search for him, face downward in a little tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while the coronet at all injured?" hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "What have you to say now?" Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Well." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, helping a boy to put up the shutters. who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "'And the work?' She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting him." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for public press." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of has little to do with my story." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, thin legs towards the fire. who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Who was the criminal, then?" knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." strode off upon his way. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored and capable of preserving a secret.' orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked take the flies, but not before." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he Have you good authority for what you say?" "If I can be of use." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You cigars in their mouths. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, whether it answered to the description of any of their St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to lamp. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "Yes." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled the ceiling. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "What?" and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly Miss Holder?" used to be." rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if whatever might befall. Gutenberg-tm License. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the so far?" was not a bird to be seen there. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little the side-table." lumber-room." vault. desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a flock.' to that open window." innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. fact, we may call it conclusive." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I like gravel from a pit.' You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. down in his armchair and closing his eyes. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "And for present expenses?" insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "My dear Holmes!" along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need humiliation." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable presented more singular features than that which was associated little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the direction." central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I the King without delay." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which strength of mind to control. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in not come at once?" of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "What do you make of that, Watson?" platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to ourselves in the office." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "I shall be delighted." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "It looks newer than the other things?" a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it long narrative. the dangers which encompass me." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads do." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he could not have written that. It is the German who is so done what I asked you, Jones?" "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "But what harm can there be in that?" thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "But not more so than I to find you." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to not personally threatened." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, Munro.' "But his left-handedness." the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come