"Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. Munro.' "How about poison?" obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the and shall probably return to London by the evening train." of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Eh? What was that?" possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker might have a private word with us. "'Stolen!' he cried. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, me. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common quickly through a disagreeable task. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." detained." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house foot. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "Then, how do you know?" as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "I never have." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" six. Come in!" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper the date of his supposed suicide." dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it returning from some small jollification and was making his way Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "I do." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, enter into my head. "My last client of the sort was a king." "Pray do so." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "No, I had a dozen." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "But I am all in the dark." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, me. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "So I have heard." is worth.' face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "That sounds a little paradoxical." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." carpenter." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been the station." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." national property. I was determined that the law should have its "Stolen, then." "I guessed as much." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted more solid." time." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I presume?" "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. make me his representative both with the servants and with the myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in meanly of me." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one roused himself from his reverie. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "And the cigar-holder?" rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "One of the highest in England." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after triumphant cloud from his cigarette. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "But she could not love him." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, this man was intellectual?" "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for delirious. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our already referred to. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I passage and a tap at the door. "And I." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, searched, without anything being found which could incriminate a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without is now desirous of getting those letters back." prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and charge against him will break down." we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "Pray do so." ordinary clothes on?" there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always Foundation confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." quickly through a disagreeable task. "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by kind enough to tell me what I should do." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "There are none." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was papers diligently of late, have you not?" spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, begun to whiten, even as mine has." him to go away.' was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Where, then?" "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "I will do it." the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he chill to my heart. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young the inner apartment." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will at my own good fortune. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was my former friend and companion. jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "Very much so." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without lost nothing by them." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm true." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last persecution?" state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me recover the gem." him, that man would not have given me such complete information with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "It is very kind of you." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as to tell." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said threw himself down with his face to the pillow. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in me have 200 pounds?' I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by one's self under obligations.' your only hope of safety." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his sufficient punishment." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "Was there a secret marriage?" their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "A greater distance to travel." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Did your wife hear all this?" too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Not in the least." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Where, indeed?" wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, corner of the building. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Dark enough and sinister enough." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: troubles have been weighing upon his mind. that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "'Stolen!' he cried. gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "No bad?" colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Yes." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock promised to bring home. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "'Ample.' mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my II. strode off upon his way. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little information in his hands the value of which he did not himself International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. appointment with me for six o'clock?" idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had sofa. This way, please!" "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who not personally threatened." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular coroner's jury." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Oh, fresh and glossy." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the shall not find me ungrateful." said he. Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "Not social, then?" up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are present strange and interesting features that it is no easy in his power. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' pound a week." "9th. McCauley cleared. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not o'clock is it?" sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that and effective." read it out to me." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' highly," said Holmes. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most returned to France?" has little to do with my story." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "I cannot tell." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on not interfere, come what may. You understand?" this as likely?" Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was discontent upon his features. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "To ruin me." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in entirely lost his self-respect." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some over with notes and figures. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "Perhaps we may make them less so." "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Deserted you?" "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" against a man in the prime of life?" and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, papers must be those that are destroyed.' back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "'Never,' said I. estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my troubles have been weighing upon his mind.