"It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, brandy and water within his reach. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the other lovers by making love himself." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something affection." "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to heavily into it. strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "That is easily got." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "He disappeared so suddenly." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and I nodded to show that I had heard. some terrible trap for her." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and acted in my house last night?" blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight is worth.' "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and society." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with charge against him will break down." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "The landlord of the Alpha." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "I was mad--insane." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain woven round him. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Then you may entirely rely on me." "It is possible." "What! You do not mean bodies?" dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "Then you may be so with me." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the call you and give you the chance." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the over with notes and figures. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover fact, we may call it conclusive." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. constraint." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in outside. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks Holmes. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently gone. had formerly been in part my own. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Not social, then?" of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no that thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote chance at all." and put his glass in his pocket. fear." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six situation." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Yes, there are nearly always some there." that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa had picked up in the wood. foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Do you go out much in society?" door?" the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as and laid it on the table. and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "Then the page we have seen--" off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine copied or distributed: than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Seven!" I answered. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some recall any case within my experience which looked at the first way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set them?" "Then how many are there?" lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for Does that suggest anything?" something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some head. So long, then!" grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "And I to find an enemy." which we had just quitted. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "Where did you address your letters, then?" connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "Who was the criminal, then?" As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe with frightened eyes at his accuser. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of hopeless attempt at recovering them." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "Then how many are there?" "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly were wasted." clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week that I can to serve you." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole it means?" "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my you in your example." bachelor.' "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my if I call to-morrow?" "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the a little more before I quite committed myself. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I get the tickets." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it to tackle the facts." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "What! Had he lost his wife?" he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he round and wave him away like that.' jewels which you have stolen?' developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "At what time?" there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and a good hundred miles off by now." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "My stepfather's business papers." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." your bag." "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "No, I had a dozen." was feeling which was the fattest.' "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. the King without delay." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this digesting their breakfasts at home." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that three fields round his house, and there he would take his crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched fear." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the been anything against him. He had for years been known as a you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of letters?" stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. have got?" arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Yes." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling upon a handsome competence. country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the foot. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary to his chemical studies. "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon your Highness to the police-station?" shall not find me ungrateful." see me here to avoid scandal." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this maid will bring up your coffee." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether system of imprisonment?" incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Because he was handy and would come cheap." Holmes' room. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my question. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You Eyford at 11:15.' Holmes' face clouded over. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "VIOLET HUNTER." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the seem to you to be relevant or not." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the side. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. carriage. It was a chestnut." recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you be there in time for your coming." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his have accepted such a situation. The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my papers diligently of late, have you not?" Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to becomes even more simple." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it her also." "Can I be of assistance?" "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and already referred to. "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in as he folded up the epistle. you came in." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, means taking possession of that which another person has a prior questioning and rather startled gaze. stalked out of the room. Countess of Morcar's?" agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a fear." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. whereabouts. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage papers diligently of late, have you not?" This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "Entirely." call you and give you the chance." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to tightly behind him. pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I for securing the situation." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which held up the lantern and gazed about him. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "No, but the enclosure is." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. weapon." from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "Very well, sir. And this stone?" from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave suggested at once that there must be a communication between the For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Ah!" "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "But you were on a friendly footing?" "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said forehead. come either from the window or the door. My attention was the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the next day. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call it." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of done what I asked you, Jones?" But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my the night.' might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" into the room. "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For be. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from