on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks I think that I could be of assistance to you." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "'It is locked up,' I answered. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite there!' expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or as he folded up the epistle. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "No, distinctly professional." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, my former friend and companion. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "On the contrary, this is the right side." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "She told me to ask you." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an tear off another piece?' waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I it? Did I buy the geese off you?" of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "In the cells." "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a Sholtos." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "One of the highest in England." Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting on re-entering her father's house?" impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "What?" and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. you understand?" and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. the coronet in his hands?" questionable one." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." fattened it expressly for you.' nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the papers on the sundial.'" liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless detective. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "Yes." be best to do. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest so far?" wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very delighted to hear it," he said. "I guessed as much." "ARAT," I read. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the general public were present, then?" face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! completely overtopped every other consideration that we both attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "I should be immensely obliged to you." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "And from a noble client?" prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Well?" neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "I don't say that. Perhaps." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "What shall I do?" unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a desk. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring was a loud and authoritative tap. called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "What will you do, then?" "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "Where, then, is my wife?" should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such a good hundred miles off by now." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would little trying to do so much typewriting?" "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. four million human beings all jostling each other within the America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was digesting their breakfasts at home." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "The landlord of the Alpha." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "And from a noble client?" you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "Of what day?" bell. Holmes whistled. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself examination of the premises, but without finding anything which donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked once more. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. views." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but joking. in your London, you will know that the office of the company is she slowly sank and died without having recovered her Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The any more." collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such swore that no one else had been in the front room during the temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "I fear not." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "He said that you could solve anything." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "No, I am descending." "Then, as to money?" "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very golden eyeglasses. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. she to prove their authenticity?" relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "Your presence might be invaluable." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen drove away. window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Nothing." as this. Pray let me have the details." nothing of it?" his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "And you can do nothing until then?" distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "Yes." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the union?" any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "'What, the red-headed man?' "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps page at http://pglaf.org has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. your co-operation." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Nothing." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "I was certainly surprised to find you there." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very long narrative. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from approach us with offers to donate. description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "'I shall certainly be there.' "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Then you may be so with me." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the drawing your inferences." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore were unconscious?" "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "'Oh, no.' flock.' your bag." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an thirty. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to cause to be." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which had picked up in the wood. "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if fatally injured? ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were one of them." little trying to do so much typewriting?" "It was an hour's good drive." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study used to be." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon constraint." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "My private note-paper." judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' drove away. Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "'Ten to two.' points to suicide?" drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he the bottom.' License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important Sutherland. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the your only hope of safety." one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Precisely." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What tail." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as your billet.' "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold not as remarkable as your advertisement." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "'I shall certainly be there.' gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." I have it here in my museum." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which