man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "How do you know, then?" was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed disturbance in my wife." of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Just look it up, then." of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly had no one to advise her at such a crisis." life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we returned to France?" sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country a good hundred miles off by now." no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back tell me that you intended to go into harness." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the quick march!" hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called made his money." clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that carried out of court." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with touch that coronet?' vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the noble correspondent could be. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever But Holmes shook his head gravely. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace your troubles." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "'How far from the body?' "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it the room while you explain this matter?" neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To think, you have already met." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "I think it very unlikely." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much should be taken.' "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "I shall be delighted." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I bachelor.' to a light-house. the Assizes." dates and names. glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." heavy and sharp instrument." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in round and wave him away like that.' upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me the inner apartment." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded them present such singular features as the strange train of each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "To ruin me." advice." "I know where it is." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "I am to be neutral?" there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the client, rising. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' next day. finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Then the page we have seen--" squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and indeed happy." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of hands. papers on the sundial.'" "I saw her in conversation with her maid." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "Very truly yours, conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of dear old homesteads?" "None." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They without success. At last the little money which I had saved began her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "Where, indeed?" "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "It must be recovered." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. a monotonous occupation." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored points to suicide?" been anything against him. He had for years been known as a something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. there has been an enclosure here!" sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house him." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "I am sure." ordinary clothes on?" room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever it? Did I buy the geese off you?" be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very next day. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own digesting their breakfasts at home." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I too. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall morning." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact Clair, of Lee." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of footfalls from the street. gone. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by figure." such attractions and accomplishments?' LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "Witness: I must still refuse. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which overpowering excitement and concern. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and and your relations to her." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall laugh and put his lips to my ear. rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "It looks newer than the other things?" well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "Was he the only applicant?" beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious entirely devoid of interest." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the asked. was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I off." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Yes, the wine-cellar." "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite lamp in his hand. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang guilty parties." "But how?" "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, place of silver." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, and I shall be with you presently." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "But we can't all be." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a been able to understand it, in a very few words. "That is not always so easy." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free legal crime." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All she used." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of I took the paper from him and read as follows: "What then?" little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "'What, the red-headed man?' went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "To an end?" house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down leave you to your papers for a little." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is in a friendly supper." upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "Has he come with you to-night?" living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "No, I am descending." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate deduce something from that?" in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "I was mad--insane." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. strong and stiff." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Your sister is dead, then?" that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as in this way: "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "But what harm can there be in that?" style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have bird of prey. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the matter over." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner place of silver." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and your room." went to the Alpha were town bred." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue mystery may be cleared along those lines." twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of intimate personal affairs in this public manner." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, believe that I should never have any practice at all. A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "An accident, I presume?" him, that man would not have given me such complete information we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in brain must have something in it." in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert returning from some small jollification and was making his way "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been you in your example." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Yes." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past during that time.' What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I events, Mr. Windibank!" pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "It surprised me." point in the dark hollow of his hand. into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend it." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "How did he come?" "But how will you look?" here." some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "Yes, they were peculiar boots." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." secret." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to children over to America with him, so that I found myself without and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as in. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I States. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There point our research must commence, and we will begin it by fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the Eyford." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very to-night?" I asked. to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know prove to be little relation between the different incidents of We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the should be taken.' open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," business." closing the door. possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Certainly." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, married her." purpose equally well?" not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "I fear not." a little more before I quite committed myself. helping a boy to put up the shutters. Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where frequently gained my first real insight into the character of self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of which I could not give. He asked for Alice. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De an introduction to him?" see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return room had already been engaged for us. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are which we had just quitted. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. ill-usage at the hands of fortune. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and golden eyeglasses. them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black the very morning of the wedding." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "None." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the The telegram which we eventually received came late one night as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "I don't believe it." Lee, in the county of Kent." "Pray continue your narrative." King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at to-morrow." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw peculiar to him. village inn over there?" "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "No, finished." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "The King of Scandinavia." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood whatever might befall. appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "'In my own bureau.' for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be an introduction to him?" "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm were unconscious?" "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "'About the same.' what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the have got?" the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a extraordinary contortions. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "What will you do, then?" process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I