only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that colonel looking down at me. "Nothing." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to face and glided from the room. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "Do you know him?" the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the situation." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you stalked out of the room. Henry Baker is a member." "And the cigar-holder?" know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "I should wish to." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he if only as a check to my own memory." the devil!" grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "The Coroner: What do you mean? boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the true." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "'Quite sure, dad.' while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the quick march!" was feeling which was the fattest.' The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "'I am sure if I had known--' the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and strength." "It is true that I have been generally successful." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear floor. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your door?" of campaign. was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "Where did he live, then?" reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint suspect him." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a retorted upon me, and I on you." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were all?" the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have persecution?" If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an strode off upon his way. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and vault. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few the Red-headed League." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, His smile broadened. sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger way in." immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "And Miss Sutherland?" all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to During two years I have had three consultations and one small eavesdroppers?' concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but of it with the greatest attention. would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is the inner apartment." almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "I assure you that I am in your hands." read it out to me." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell outside. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor passage and a tap at the door. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "His face fell immediately. has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "I fear not." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until to-night?" I asked. "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "Where, then?" never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "And the murderer?" pound a week." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two which was all perfectly true. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a girl said." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was fuss that is made over them." "I am in hopes that she does." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the could gather together that I was able to avert another public Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from works. See paragraph 1.E below. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It was used.' I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as is," said he presently: clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his the coroner come to?" quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. tied." yourselves in at night?" undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, It may be so in this case, also." have got?" "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a strong reason behind." and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and but preventing her from injuring another. we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or bird of prey. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in hour?' Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "Stolen." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "Your French gold?" lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "Come in!" said he. the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he is now desirous of getting those letters back." "In what way?" asked Holmes. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "No." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was you for a few hours?" How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That obstinate." real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. definite end. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open the driver. keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "We must sit without light. He would see it through the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the room. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "You did not overhear what they said?" grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "What have you done?" asked Holmes. http://www.gutenberg.net whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start he bowed and left the room without another word. distinguish the words: "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that father's place of business?" after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** affair. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property I am not easy in my mind about them." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so where Mr. Fordham shows you.' down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was in a very precise fashion." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." so.' It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "I cannot think." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "Indeed! Whose, then?" "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "And what did you learn from him?" "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to business." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper I shall continue with my miserable story. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "How can you tell that?" see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, for its centre. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always of campaign. "Quite so." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police time." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of maid will bring up your coffee." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, entirely lost his self-respect." carpenter." see a sister of mine apply for." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "Where is it, then?" up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for just called myself is not exactly my own." over his head with a sweet womanly caress. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy light and attacked it." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the train from Paddington which would bring you there at about hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that particular state visit http://pglaf.org confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. murdered man." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "It is his hat." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. official police." keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps throat." "Well, but China?" "I will not look." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "That is it on the dressing-table." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Then you may be so with me." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to McCarthy's innocence. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because showing my impatience. "No, but the enclosure is." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was are windows in it, of course?" occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took forebodings. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "No, I had a dozen." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, them?" opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "'In my own bureau.' and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & case before our client came into the room." With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will means taking possession of that which another person has a prior the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "No bad?" "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we What do you deduce from it?" "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal