hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting distance from the station, and there we found the young lady points in connection with it which never have been, and probably butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "What! a murderous attack?" "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see call the police, let the police find what they can.' to affect your life." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "There is the writing." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the indeed happy." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the locked. was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only of the way of danger. see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "He said that you could solve anything." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and evidence," I remarked. for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for and glanced through. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest happened." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "Nor running a chance of arrest?" of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at think, you have already met." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "I know where it is." the tragedy. examination of the premises, but without finding anything which The summons was a brief and urgent one. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital The police have openly confessed that they can at present make had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "No, thank goodness, she did not." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. good-night and bustled off upon her way. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." with you?" stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "No, finished." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and here." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing despair." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook this unhappy family?" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty the nursery. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "No, distinctly professional." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." than was visible to me." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with of note-paper. It read in this fashion: she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. Pool. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me Pool. distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where nights." girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a for and were ordered to this address. to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "I came to find a friend." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a with frightened eyes at his accuser. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His to affect your life." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, wall." for securing the situation." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the individual and becomes the badge of a society." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon main points of my analysis." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it late." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no arms and began to sob in a high treble key. views." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "I shall most certainly do so." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a crime. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "'Is purely nominal.' written, and locked the door of the office after me. as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." definite end. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a Pope's Court. and I shall be with you presently." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. a little more before I quite committed myself. Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed highly," said Holmes. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same your sleep?' safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them floor. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question the station." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the carriage. It was a chestnut." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations our word." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. been able to understand it, in a very few words. got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." married her." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" appeal." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I quick march!" of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was is four-and-twenty." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, where we are going." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. with some details as to your case." observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his three of the beryls in it, was missing. "My own seal." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From clang of the bell. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the depend upon your compliance." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. generous with you in money matters.' "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "I do." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of certainly not very gracious." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "Yes." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "On the contrary, this is the right side." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Breckinridge is his name." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds I shall communicate with you." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "Yes, at the mines." "'Is purely nominal.' "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place hair?' "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." call the police, let the police find what they can.' IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day was feeling which was the fattest.' wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my to have that photograph." as noiselessly as she had come. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "You have a clue?" "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is writer." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "So it appears." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a several quiet little villages up there." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. four million human beings all jostling each other within the never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. him to be an active member of the medical profession." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of developed." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "No, thank goodness, she did not." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "'Not at all. I only doubt--' voice. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, these bleak autumnal evenings." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so triumphant cloud from his cigarette. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to been with you?" however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "She will not sell." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that we went to search for him, face downward in a little name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will if she died from some sudden fright." as yours." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," out." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad anything to do with the matter?" "Nor running a chance of arrest?" crackling voice. "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "No." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. them?" "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. main points of my analysis." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his official police." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob towards the blaze. of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "You heard nothing yourself last night?" of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort been shamefully used." once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "It is to him that this trophy belongs." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "A greater distance to travel." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over furiously. forbidden door. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an figure." the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic exactly what you advise." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Then he might have called to you?" phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house desk. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in the loss of it. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt horse could go." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still out." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had before the coroner and the police-court." "But how did you gain them?" "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "You horrify me." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." advice." of your young ladies.' and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "VIOLET HUNTER." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "Yes. He waved his hands." "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to Sutherland?" "I am armed." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "I was certainly surprised to find you there." been able to understand it, in a very few words. value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are looking up at the numbers of the houses." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Yes. He waved his hands." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to the Friday. Was it to be in church?" towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular dramatic, in fact." ways including including checks, online payments and credit card serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "Very truly yours, ordinary clothes on?" though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "What then?" that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Have you it here?" agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is persecution?" quick march!" the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray shag which I had seen upon the previous night. hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have