morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "Tired-looking or fresh?" into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" of fine shops and stately business premises that they really wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Did you observe the colour?" full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited forecastle of an emigrant ship. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in shall use the carriage to-night." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. you understand?" Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, congratulate you again." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his must be when I saw the door open.' "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "Not yet." "The doctor?" "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was when you have done it." authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all undoubtedly my uncle's." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "The knees of his trousers." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray chance." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and what is your own theory as to what took place?" 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "It looks newer than the other things?" constraint." my secret was safe in his possession. "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said the bottom.' that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is highroad, where all traces were lost. "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a hour." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his them?" "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. once more on the important position which you have been fortunate of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of in a very precise fashion." down in his armchair and closing his eyes. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "One horse?" interjected Holmes. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself said he. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "Holmes, the busybody!" Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "And leave your case unfinished?" clanging. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a more terrible than the truth. Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, Holmes." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. forbidden door. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "No. What a strange idea!" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. be there in time for your coming." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "Stolen, then." married her." security.' "'Where could I find him?' "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend together. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "But you were on a friendly footing?" believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a the general public were present, then?" were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing some city in a dream. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "I never have." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new redistribution. if I call to-morrow?" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my closing the door. his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "There are none." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I third from London." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I might have a private word with us. "I cannot as yet see any connection." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy any little problem which you may submit to me." his face. which was all perfectly true. "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the highly," said Holmes. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before directors, with the result that you have seen." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "What of the rat, then?" some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long security.' was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "Precisely." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions Have you good authority for what you say?" Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside them present such singular features as the strange train of Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything it? Did I buy the geese off you?" he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "That also I could fathom." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for important." any little problem which you may submit to me." delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "The knees of his trousers." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes all that?" admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings notes," he said. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger future lives." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important off." "Yes." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. yourselves in at night?" Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined breakfast?" "And how did he make his money?" the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "You horrify me." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who to-night." better grown goose." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and he died? away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. on re-entering her father's house?" "I say that I have solved it." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was galvanised. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San friend's singular character. "My Mary? Impossible!" covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "What! a murderous attack?" living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. the inquest, and which are worth considering." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "But to whom?" "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a will find little credit to be gained out of this case." of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we Street. hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband whereabouts. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "'There is a drive, then?' "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. observed. washing it down with a long draught of water. "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the 1.F. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," the roots. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Yes, only one." back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman in his hands." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "'Yes, I promise.' good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "But how could you guess what the motive was?" six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "At half-wages, in fact." "But I am all in the dark." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in place, I think that there is good ground to think that the address. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out the King without delay." admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Then how many are there?" with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had questioning and rather startled gaze. be. other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry records." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the note?" behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk Chief Executive and Director know all about it," he snarled. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "10th. John Swain cleared. when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Witness: It was. "Did you become engaged then?" the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe had died away into the silence from which it rose. "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to ways of our fellow-men." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would felt the room to be a little close.' half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "'Stolen!' he cried. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "I say it is." disappearance of the bride.'" the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "Where did you address your letters, then?" beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "That is easily got." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "Pray do so." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony conversation I have gathered that they have been married about Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the interest. They are important, you understand, without being whereabouts. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the have accepted such a situation. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry fire. You quite follow me?" now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the strange features which were associated with the two crimes which one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "He said too much." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are the station." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our but preventing her from injuring another. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small writing, and yet I know it well." "Yes, I have one waiting." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began death." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Never." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be one which it was hard to resist. than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "But what harm can there be in that?" and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert little adventures." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! characteristics, but those are the more obvious." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the young Openshaw's." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door Foundation such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "It goes to the housekeeper's room." but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was six. Come in!" "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the to take care of herself." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Then you may entirely rely on me." a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man