"I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you she might be summoned. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "Ten will be early enough." half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. writing, and yet I know it well." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face I am not easy in my mind about them." appeal." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "My private note-paper." and the church but not where the lady lived." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "Can I be of assistance?" remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, me, and I could not think that his explanation of the was a loud and authoritative tap. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. I leave." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "Very murderous indeed." 1.E.9. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, be best to do. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "How did that help you?" makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Yes, sir." time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the one's self under obligations.' "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was clang of the bell. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He politicians who had been sent down from the North. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three success. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding rooms." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that like gravel from a pit.' "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "He is still with you, I presume?" room?" Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my in my life." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually My friend smiled. "Indeed! Whose, then?" ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and nothing with him." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. she might be summoned. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here newspaper selections." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Not in a good cause." "And your father? Did you tell him?" doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "My opinion is in no way altered." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "But what harm can there be in that?" to affect your life." "And you thought he was pulled back?" "How did he come?" "In what way?" asked Holmes. our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray went to the Alpha were town bred." both be extremely obliged.' red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom he. "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "To an end?" that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and characteristics, but those are the more obvious." the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. digesting their breakfasts at home." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "'Certainly not. But why?' with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "In what way?" asked Holmes. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched tightly behind him. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as a good hundred miles off by now." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so if only as a check to my own memory." that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was easy-going way." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a opportunities to fix the problem. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two ago." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up bed dies. Does not that strike you?" sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she answered with a sidelong glance. were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Were they all fastened this morning?" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle trifles." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the bonnet, and went out." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I your billet.' however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much that I may have something better before very many minutes are misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin experiences." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR him to be an active member of the medical profession." "Then he might have called to you?" thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the points to suicide?" nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now quite distinctive." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "Always." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a with her." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "And who is her maid?" "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found it? Did I buy the geese off you?" happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as Holmes' thin, eager face. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES perplexity from it to my illustrious client. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away dates and names. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned good for you to do.' harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." have had none more fantastic than this." "Yes, all." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong thirty. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you nothing with him." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "It is to him that this trophy belongs." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "But she could not love him." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of good for you to do.' have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for bore every mark of being an average commonplace British several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, indeed happy." interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the Holmes' face clouded over. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "It is true that I have been generally successful." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the if she died from some sudden fright." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "At what time?" certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you his face which made him a very different person to the round, "The murder was done with it." these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers time." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Yes, that is the Crown." "Then he might have called to you?" step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you appeal." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "Were they all fastened this morning?" then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be chance." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the were new raised from a basin. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "Thank you. And your address?" observed. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked such attractions and accomplishments?' silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to fishes. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety over here." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and had died away into the silence from which it rose. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless strong and stiff." "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "You have compromised yourself seriously." walking." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure lamp in his hand. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one waste of energy." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of ventilator." writing, and yet I know it well." grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned had died away into the silence from which it rose. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about think, you have already met." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "ARAT," I read. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "'Yes, it was gone.' "But she will refuse." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of the salesman. child?' was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" writer." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob Holmes' room. "I shall be delighted." go from here to the Strand." thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "Pray tell us what has happened to you." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall have one." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug to arrive at through this?" indiscretion." "No." orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped The King stared at him in amazement. are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical waste of energy." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. handed it to him. him to be an active member of the medical profession." with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs points to suicide?" 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged chemical work which was so dear to him. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "At what time?" as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "I cannot imagine." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems what I may call a really hard day's work." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three taking in every detail of the apartment. and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' you give your casting vote to?" all?" his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, appeared upon the scene." "You will not go there first?" overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "Do you know him?" other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "An accident, I presume?" "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." will not take me long to tell. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the until night should bring an explanation. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" indeed happy." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, to have been novel and of interest." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "That is unusual in a young girl." with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce detective. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy more terrible than the truth. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "Stolen, then." visitors." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "Where did you address your letters, then?" who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet murdered man." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "But how?" You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, several quiet little villages up there." skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and cost them two and thirty pounds." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "Did your wife hear all this?" "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous examine." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage manager. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden shall not find me ungrateful." maiden herself was most instructive." "At half-wages, in fact." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "What do you mean?" him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else and no precautions can guard against." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that