the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "I see many objections to any such theory." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. http://www.gutenberg.net really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An that respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should that I can to serve you." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "Frequently." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste think you a quite exceptional woman." go from here to the Strand." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw and prosperity to your house. Good-night." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel affair. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite key of the affair now." over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "I am armed." Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "It is possible." she might be summoned. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "'No, I know no one in these parts.' said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "I assure you that I am in your hands." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, narrative." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "He is still with you, I presume?" "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my once more. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned cigars in their mouths. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the thirty. one's self under obligations.' some city in a dream. hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of bird of prey. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old down. must be when I saw the door open.' "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might you." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." I held the little printed slip to the light. himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had placed his cuttings. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible Sholtos." investigation." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the I leave." populous neighbourhood." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he little adventures." not within a twentieth part of the market price." for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. to take care of herself." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "'Very good.' paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a there were one or two details which were new to me. But the SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his photograph a cabinet?" Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "I say that I have solved it." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "I think that it is very probable." maiden herself was most instructive." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "Ha! you find it so?" "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single them?" 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Pray let us have it, for all that." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "That was it, sir." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "Have you her photograph?" As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, in the port of London." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A instituted." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Nothing." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in at once, for I have only half an hour." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is what do you think they found in the pockets?" "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. instincts rose up against that laugh. "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length occupations.' downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "And why in hopes?" which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "You were travelling in the States?" and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" than was visible to me." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the room had already been engaged for us. and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down which I could not give. He asked for Alice. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery the roots. states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" of your young ladies.' "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and do you make of it all?" impression behind it as though a window had gently closed sneer upon his pale face. until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "Dr. Becher's." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she details." "Well, some hundreds of times." this poor creature." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "That sounds a little paradoxical." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. all-comprehensive glances. "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "How often?" "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice keep the flames under. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the call for protection in the marriage market, for the present glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and at once, for I have only half an hour." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. name is different." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. with some details as to your case." happened." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his test if we have an answer to our advertisement." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that in the dead of the night?' nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you views." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to unclasping of his long thin hands. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." rose-bushes. posted to-day." preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "I do." status with the IRS. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found of." "Look there!" said he. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who opened the door, and slipped through. "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "On your arm?" I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me until night should bring an explanation. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. present." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." question," said Holmes, smiling. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, The summons was a brief and urgent one. Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our be sorry for having acted so harshly." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was who was a member of your goose club." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook to tell." 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "How many? I don't know." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her do.' is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the quick march!" truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, what is your own theory as to what took place?" which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most question you as to those details which seem to me to be most with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 disappearance of the bride.'" the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a particular state visit http://pglaf.org perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones said I. particular state visit http://pglaf.org You want to know what became of those geese?" over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to happened." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you I am not easy in my mind about them." started for the Temple to see my husband. again on its way. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "I have solved it." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that in the dead of the night?' "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard the running down." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "Your presence might be invaluable." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "But you have hopes?" going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his affection." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! memory. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would quick march!" my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry amused." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a strength in the others." orange pips. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, Gutenberg-tm License. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "'Yes.' "Yes." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, gone before you can get him to hospital." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "I am about to be married." himself to hunt down. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "And your mother is alive?" "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. strong and stiff." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been