faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding Pope's Court. But Holmes shook his head gravely. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 as this. Pray let me have the details." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. go back?" room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "In which, sir?" over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a against a man in the prime of life?" first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey a room. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "Stolen." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "A confidential servant?" saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. been with you?" therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my arrangements." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided me upon any point which I do not make clear." could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "The Cedars?" occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "We were both in the photograph." "How many? I don't know." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now the date of his supposed suicide." locked." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "But you would not advise me to refuse?" room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "And that is--" you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you good-night and bustled off upon her way. together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly What do you deduce from it?" a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply open." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the it were putty." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges strode off upon his way. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "But his lameness?" description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "I know where it is." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "No." have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your Mrs. Toller serenely. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "But who is he?" "Yes." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You details." "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out the date of his supposed suicide." been able to understand it, in a very few words. said I. happened." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then appointment with me for six o'clock?" dates and names. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three six. Come in!" when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." some terrible trap for her." return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My awaited us upon the table. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "My photograph." and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "Where to?" "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A populous neighbourhood." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple the bottom.' I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Very much so." families. Now for the facts. "'About the same.' showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "And I say east," said my patient. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his with the outside air!" is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It amused." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing had a long day." unprecedented a position." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and sit on the left-hand side of the driver." way in everything. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no residence of the great financier. "What do you mean?" desk. "And for present expenses?" "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to question," said Holmes, smiling. Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** be there in time for your coming." of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "I will not look." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Game for a morning drive?" "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was that I may have something better before very many minutes are machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "I don't believe it." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed the King without delay." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Yes, he did." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can humiliation." the address that was given us in the advertisement. to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that upon the sideboard." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture hereditary King of Bohemia." here and I will read it to you: instituted." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of and I shall be with you presently." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "The murder was done with it." Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he article?" reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge bare slabs of marble. all-comprehensive glances. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for salesman. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which get the tickets." "I should be immensely obliged to you." have established a very serious case against the son of the Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "It must be recovered." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the in his power. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "An enemy?" me where it went to?" "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and outsides of the windows. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, round and wave him away like that.' had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of stalked out of the room. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I open." shaken than I had ever seen him. Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could I nodded to show that I had heard. swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of hour?' this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended to that open window." anything to do with the matter?" for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" been." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "Just look it up, then." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "Yes, certainly." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon someone who had been in Australia." that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "Yes." that enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both following enigmatical notices: in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the I leave." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a habit of advancing money.' listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I woman who has had her own way to make in the world. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask memory. compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, with the outside air!" "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be invisible to me," I remarked. to surprise her." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "What! Had he lost his wife?" "But how will you look?" and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping less than 26s. 4d. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always which it had come upon my father." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, http://www.gutenberg.net legal crime." idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the was a perfect sample of the class. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet was once confined in the cab my mission was practically you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "Yes." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "But who is he?" upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Precisely." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses ceremony." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't spare." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is future lives." home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" and effective." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear copied or distributed: of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the detective. "It is his hat." waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, vague figure huddled up in the darkness. but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "'Ten to two.' have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you Again Holmes raved in the air. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw questioning and rather startled gaze. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "In which, sir?" more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the again before evening." the King without delay." "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "10th. John Swain cleared. I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker I nodded to show that I had heard. been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." I was concerned in it." "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "'Very good.' you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, bears upon the case?" the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "Do you know him?" "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my certainly do as you advise." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "I would give my fortune to have them back." "Not yet." waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "It is half-past ten now." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur.