be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, sparkled upon his finger. "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "I am still in the dark." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows shag which I had seen upon the previous night. you understand?" has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents Holmes' face clouded over. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought to tell." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined this unhappy family?" arrangements." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet than was visible to me." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a lost nothing by them." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened Miss Holder?" that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. been deceived." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "Then I am your man." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." appointment with me for six o'clock?" "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some emerged. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was dear old homesteads?" imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" figure." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my The events in question occurred in the early days of my "Pray tell us what has happened to you." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I to-night?" I asked. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter to have that photograph." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" to miss it." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "But you can know nothing of this?" bachelor.' "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. His name is Francis Prosper." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." you, my dear young lady?' ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the coat-tails." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "Never." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. shag which I had seen upon the previous night. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" ran thus: wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper call it cruel." insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "It was." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked way: "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have if she died from some sudden fright." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of suggested at once that there must be a communication between the conduct the inquiry." him." "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "In heaven's name, what for?" "He is still with you, I presume?" "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an fasten all the windows?" naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for neither fascinating nor artistic." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not beyond words. would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your promised to bring home. the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "I cannot say that I have." in the dead of the night?' children over to America with him, so that I found myself without ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question villagers almost as much as their master. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she served to weaken the effect. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "You think that he is dead?" matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers You can understand that this register and diary may implicate will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a one which it was hard to resist. any little problem which you may submit to me." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her drawing your inferences." "Not in a good cause." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "Do you receive much company?" he asked. than was visible to me." his fortune, and I went back to pa. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "I was mad--insane." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him too. Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "But not more so than I to find you." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "I have hopes." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has garden below. his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would suddenly upon us." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle certainly not very gracious." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin man. (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without more solid." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring once more for Briony Lodge. or other trace. But how on earth--" must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that drawing your inferences." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the that you can jump it.' broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital the station." and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words answer." of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "Dirty?" We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a train.' "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "The doctor?" matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "What is it, then--a fire?" Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this the roots. far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "So I heard. You have him here?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "VIOLET HUNTER." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly we went to search for him, face downward in a little the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock cost them two and thirty pounds." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the hard-headed British jury." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their back into the street. "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, our word." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "What will you say?" floor. definite end. Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed views." fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even three fields round his house, and there he would take his I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other already been minutely examined." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is experiences." you." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Certainly." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Yes, that is the Crown." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "A client, then?" to me. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel His name is Francis Prosper." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "But you were on a friendly footing?" From what you have told me I think that it is possible that brought there to personate someone, and the real person is receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my do.' difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes not come at once?" "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Perhaps we may make them less so." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." matter." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away purpose of examination. it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the hour." "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope the nursery. little trying to do so much typewriting?" Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" this unhappy family?" interested in these little problems, and since you are good just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down meant it for the best. "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "No sign of it?" since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "And did you observe any change in her then?" dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" other, as fresh and trim as possible. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more works. See paragraph 1.E below. train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into your troubles." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "She walked into the breakfast-room." "Whose house is it?" "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite habit of advancing money.' urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly thirty. in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had careless servant girl?" swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each notes," he said. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" in a very precise fashion." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But singular points about the case. What did the police think of the wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "And I to find an enemy." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would extraordinary contortions. took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "No?" there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "Quite so." knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "The doctor?" expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm foresight and the moral retrogression?" "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "My Mary? Impossible!" "ARAT," I read. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "'In my own bureau.' observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Frequently." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt are, I think, all that we need." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated get the tickets." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "But the mystery?" brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. never will be, entirely cleared up. strong reason behind."