and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the you do it in twenty minutes!' out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly giving me time to thank him. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "Nothing?" here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and purpose of examination. putting in the horse. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my fat-encircled eyes. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion matter over." and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "Yes. He waved his hands." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your conceal it?" my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, exactly what you advise." as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was official police." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you gone. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Nothing?" Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want upon the white wrist. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "No more words. Get out!" "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "Then you may entirely rely on me." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I tension within him. could gather together that I was able to avert another public why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Indeed! Whose, then?" Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social appeared upon the scene." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then You want to know what became of those geese?" intrusion of other matters." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you business." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the writer." steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried may never be exposed to such a temptation." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "My dear Holmes!" the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes coat-tails." door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with in the dead of the night?' the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Awake, Watson?" he asked. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "Not I." suddenly upon us." Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser our word." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, with you alone." 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to the matter." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "By train from Waterloo." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. the tragedy. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, appointment with me for six o'clock?" "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, your co-operation." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know Countess of Morcar's?" "Ah, but I was recommended to you." foot. happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "I am about to be married." union?" "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would not, dad?" she asked. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, From what you have told me I think that it is possible that him, that man would not have given me such complete information prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which delirious. yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her bare slabs of marble. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." the coronet in his hands?" and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those even so self-evident a thing as that." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." silent! Oh, he will be silent!' in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "Will you bet, then?" "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure present strange and interesting features that it is no easy feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup acted in my house last night?" then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager here." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely developed." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "'You cannot say what it was?' putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort least a fellow-countryman. found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, front of the hall door has given its name to the place. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "Ten will be early enough." had a long day." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "You have compromised yourself seriously." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "What can you not understand?" making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to lamp. matters immensely." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive night.' said he. as he remarks, very much against the son." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot his grey eyes. he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "What!" he roared. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to the little opening for the ventilator is." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "Never." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' important." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "And help." need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "'As governess?' seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "My own seal." I approached. go back?" help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. strong and stiff." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back vault. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for face and glided from the room. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "Pray do so." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as politicians who had been sent down from the North. and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. Pool. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute unclasping of his long thin hands. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to I leave." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are in a friendly supper." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "And your father? Did you tell him?" Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "Nor running a chance of arrest?" a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open and effective." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing of Fenchurch Street." "I am sure." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, companion quietly. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the that he has suffered." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "No, I think that I'll take it." forehead. "I am armed." detective. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg night.' said he. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. ready to-morrow?' "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich know what is wrong with it.' after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates pictures, libraries, or plate. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to bled considerably." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so and a shock of very red hair. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I him, that man would not have given me such complete information a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had and capable of preserving a secret.' "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER the coronet in his hand?" had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "No good news?" "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well completely overtopped every other consideration that we both the King without delay." "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Really! You surprise me." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. comes from the middle window." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "What have you done?" asked Holmes. fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "'What do you call purely nominal?' I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person the devil!" dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "Do you go out much in society?" that?' "Where, then, is my wife?" his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, me. You must get home instantly and act." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to pierced for earrings?" order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped distinguish the words: and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they the armchair which I pushed forward for him. works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon hour." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all annoyance, but no jest. the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "My dear Holmes!" question you as to those details which seem to me to be most yet." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "'A dozen yards or so.' window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "You horrify me." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn against a man in the prime of life?" over part of the map. "What do you read?" is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when six. Come in!" whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask cup of tea. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second someone who had been in Australia." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man not come at once?" "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "It certainly sounds feasible." three of the beryls in it, was missing. the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "And help." "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you should be so warm over such a trifle." instituted." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in may have an influence upon European history." "It is no ordinary one." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, head. So long, then!" an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "It surprised me." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on at once, for I have only half an hour." matter." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "'Stolen!' he cried. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and more terrible than the truth. could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. said I. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, chance." which we had just quitted. Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and highroad, where all traces were lost. "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "I have hopes." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." hereditary King of Bohemia." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. papers on the sundial.'" effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was know all about it," he snarled.