"No legal papers or certificates?" "Where, then?" of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to main points of my analysis." the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "My dear Holmes!" before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "I think it very unlikely." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "My own seal." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, drove away. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Did he not advertise?" reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Oh, the cause is excellent!" blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she indeed which he could not unravel. "'What, the red-headed man?' France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "'And what are they worth?' I asked. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "Deserted you?" dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the think you a quite exceptional woman." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was present." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "I warn you that they are very incomplete." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" a good hundred miles off by now." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "Not yet." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "How are you getting on?" into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "'What do you call purely nominal?' two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he I nodded to show that I had heard. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Do you receive much company?" he asked. and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "But how could you guess what the motive was?" could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "She told me to ask you." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "I cannot tell." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium furiously. "How can you tell that?" the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the the best of training." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and again." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to that?' breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you detained." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." is now desirous of getting those letters back." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this enter into my head. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in for its centre. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "'Yes.' "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a passage and a tap at the door. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "Stolen." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar humiliation." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about walking." "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same charge against him will break down." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. the coronet in his hand?" keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out following enigmatical notices: remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face front of the hall door has given its name to the place. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are third from London." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in carried out of court." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, into the room. all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "'Oh, no.' companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and that furiously. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "Yes?" thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that him nearly every evening." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." back alive. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions business." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his some mystery and the punishment of some crime." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "VIOLET HUNTER." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort death." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us infinite languor in his face. room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "I see no marks." fluttered off among the others. lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook felt the room to be a little close.' man. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "My dear Holmes!" individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "We have tried and failed." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "Why did you beat the pavement?" extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "Yes, at the mines." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "And your mother is alive?" have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known characteristics, but those are the more obvious." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity legal crime." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" with the outside air!" "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Pray do so." "My photograph." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting noting anything else of interest. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Seven!" I answered. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "Quite so. She has her freedom." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "Not in a good cause." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell of it with the greatest attention. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the persecution?" "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "Why, what do you mean?" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I wedding?" it. "Very truly yours, "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. keep the flames under. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "What are they?" bill, which interests me deeply." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." and have this put in the evening papers." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. lost his Christmas dinner." hurried by. drawing your inferences." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "But what harm can there be in that?" there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white served to weaken the effect. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "I should wish to." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. DAMAGE. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and point our research must commence, and we will begin it by station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which until night should bring an explanation. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. page at http://pglaf.org "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late be best to do. Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "What will you say?" I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under derbies." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since time." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, Pope's Court. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as to miss it." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday that, and I came down." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I late." when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear away to you." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and the inner apartment." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet of Mr. Rucastle's." "'Is purely nominal.' very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than which we had just quitted. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural as the one I chose?' feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." visitors." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "I cannot imagine." fluttered off among the others. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, not, dad?" she asked. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he way in everything. heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just Pope's Court, Fleet Street." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I me upon any point which I do not make clear." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Stolen." out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House for and were ordered to this address. "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "Yes, that is the Crown." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly learned something! Where are the gems?" take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it words came to my lips. retorted upon me, and I on you." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer joking. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "But your client--" pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was golden eyeglasses. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive very morning of my second wedding." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "It's nothing of the kind." sooner or later she must fall a victim. will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the was already answered. right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern before the coroner and the police-court." "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the annoyance, but no jest. never came back." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself little trying to do so much typewriting?" there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged copied or distributed: "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring be sorry for having acted so harshly." hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Ha! you find it so?" adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Who by?" thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of note?" "Really! You surprise me." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "I assure you that I am in your hands." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which other means.' "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left McCarthy's innocence. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "'I have heard so.' was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "But not more so than I to find you." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in come either from the window or the door. My attention was outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become and I shall be with you presently." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a a little more before I quite committed myself. yards of it?' fait accompli?" Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a photograph a cabinet?" wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for meant." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in