understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to jewels which you have stolen?' three of the beryls in it, was missing. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an it right.' "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. generous with you in money matters.' cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the not come at once?" 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO drove away. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Where is it, then?" rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "Who by?" whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "On Monday." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I American. Then who could this American be, and why should he in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." may never be exposed to such a temptation." "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." to you." adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or was used.' weary and pale-looking. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon highly," said Holmes. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, that he will be back before evening." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do your equipment. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "Could he throw no light?" "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah spare." "'Yes, sir.' "But we can't all be." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every and shall probably return to London by the evening train." any." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a throat." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "No." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, strode off upon his way. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "'There is a drive, then?' There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for matter." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "Yes." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little works. See paragraph 1.E below. might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you records." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "I will try. What is it?" "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such to go into your room and bar your shutters?" daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "Only as much as we can deduce." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt over part of the map. "What do you read?" property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its to that open window." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a eavesdroppers?' intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." has little to do with my story." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "'Ten to two.' breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the Street. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort and the colonel ushered me in. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her derbies." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the of note-paper. It read in this fashion: open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a enough to aid us in our search." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" been with you?" back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I handed it to him. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. of the vacancies.' Chief Executive and Director "Pray do so." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he at a side door. second." of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "Can I be of assistance?" habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. me. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "'Which dealer's?' matters immensely." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from shadow pass over his face as I spoke. him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise experiences." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to My friend smiled. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, peculiar to him. "No, I think that I'll take it." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "And what did you see?" me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this the dangers which encompass me." playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "'Never.' large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "'I have already given you my word.' "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they but preventing her from injuring another. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker money should be paid at once.' round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "I am in hopes that she does." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging room had already been engaged for us. direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying but preventing her from injuring another. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "'Oh, no.' wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt affair. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in for securing the situation." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are and effective." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was to-morrow." could gather together that I was able to avert another public playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said digesting their breakfasts at home." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and purpose equally well?" that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' in this note: at my own good fortune. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "And what then?" "'Yes, I promise.' know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "But she will refuse." to tackle the facts." from the brougham. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I you for a few hours?" the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop approach us with offers to donate. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat which are rolled in Rotterdam." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside and files of the old papers, following the future career of every upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for foresight and the moral retrogression?" several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Very much so." "What steps will you take?" I asked. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "But what is it you wish?" naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the entirely lost his self-respect." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that it were putty." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly particular state visit http://pglaf.org half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "She will not sell." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed undoubtedly my uncle's." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us suggested at once that there must be a communication between the are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two never will be, entirely cleared up. "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and forbidden door. character. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some that he has suffered." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very throat." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good clang of the bell. with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Why, what do you mean?" '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "But what harm can there be in that?" hour." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by chance at all." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well ceremony." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with stood on the top of it. and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "I think it very unlikely." him to be an active member of the medical profession." what these perils are?" business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must guilty parties." Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. October 9, 1890. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you with some details as to your case." you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love me. You must get home instantly and act." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" nothing with him." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been over his head with a sweet womanly caress. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it soul! here is her carriage at the door." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, the child." what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove emerged. served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I looking up at the numbers of the houses." could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "Oh, the cause is excellent!" be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of me." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." the bottom.' "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "It is very kind of you." Street. "So I have heard." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" four million human beings all jostling each other within the was feeling which was the fattest.' the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, asked. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. gone. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become even of instruction." Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court as this. Pray let me have the details." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." burst out into a roar of laughter. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of