points in connection with it which never have been, and probably himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "I came to find a friend." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the Chief Executive and Director unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with himself in a perplexing position. this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "No, thank goodness, she did not." gone. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." occurred." which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "It is solved." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "I will get her to show me." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she Holmes' room. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "Ha! you find it so?" he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, laugh and put his lips to my ear. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece respectable self." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at bird I ate is country bred." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most good for you to do.' value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the during the last few years, and there are many noble families to rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have as noiselessly as she had come. nice household for a young lady." having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed late!' would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had the coroner come to?" "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my Literary Archive Foundation "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Ten will be early enough." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the reach." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "What, then, did Peterson do?" depend upon your compliance." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn written. took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a past. yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while papers on the sundial.'" ways of our fellow-men." woven round him. you in your example." Serpentine Avenue. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." 1.F. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "How often?" electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are like that before?" amused." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "And now?" He raised his hand. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but dates and names. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." sound at heart." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There opened the door, and slipped through. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must locked." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is conclusions. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, never will be, entirely cleared up. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in leave you to your papers for a little." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that that you saw all that I did." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself as yours." "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the occurred." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "I cannot imagine." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in the nursery. "Then I can wait in the next room." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving must compliment you." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was you understand?" to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "Well, but China?" "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at quickly through a disagreeable task. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Never to return." "Yes, sir." will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "You saw the ventilator, too?" again, where I was soon asleep. the very morning of the wedding." admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the ceremony." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of Dr. Gregory B. Newby even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow redistribution. to have that photograph." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your passage and a tap at the door. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Pray let us have it, for all that." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable go back?" and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. the best of training." "How did you trace it, then?" knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian that the gas is not laid on in his house?" may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "'Is purely nominal.' "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "'I have heard so.' house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and events, Mr. Windibank!" you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of rose-bushes. from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "That is unusual in a young girl." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Pray tell us what has happened to you." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the with some details as to your case." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "'And what salary do you ask?' A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" disappearance of the bride.'" "'As governess?' cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "No." not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "Where is it, then?" assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." less than 26s. 4d. going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' room?" dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be one of them." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, indiscretion." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave possible that we could bring him back to her? gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I tear off another piece?' coat-tails." in this way: accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going lamp. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "In answer to an advertisement." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another nothing of it?" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either the date of his supposed suicide." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the away into the river." "When did it break out?" "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "No, distinctly professional." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a correct than the official force." strong reason behind." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" noting anything else of interest. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary memory. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that things are very often connected not with the larger but with the as this. Pray let me have the details." "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "'What are you doing there?' he asked. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I Stoke Moran." interested in these little problems, and since you are good "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere fire. You quite follow me?" could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "At the wedding breakfast." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "No, I think that I'll take it." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project and laid it on the table. "Proceed, then." toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him nights." him." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to gone. "It is his hat." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the of them has the shutters up.' glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "But she will refuse." your sleep?' unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "He slept on the premises." in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long hurried by. introspective fashion. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you page at http://pglaf.org "How are you getting on?" official police." with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment keep the flames under. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a room had already been engaged for us. so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite room?" homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "Dark enough and sinister enough." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and such attractions and accomplishments?' Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" way in everything. and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "Then I shall certainly come." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." dead, shall be safe with us." did not hear it also.' darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. families. Now for the facts. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send to his chemical studies. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." not within a twentieth part of the market price." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "The vanishing of the lady." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally again before evening." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a carpenter." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" appeal." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man of receipt of the work. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "But how could you guess what the motive was?" attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was father's place of business?" had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. spare." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be without success. At last the little money which I had saved began I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." you in yours." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Doctor, of the paper and the date." the roots. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that