sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her burst into a hearty fit of laughter. with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his as he remarks, very much against the son." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal in the port of London." enter Dr. Roylott's room." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "My stepfather's business papers." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking thought that she would have been so carried away." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though thin legs towards the fire. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading and a shock of very red hair. "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost knowledge of the world." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is companion imperturbably. you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "Pray continue your narrative." said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Who by?" applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew the matter." and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such that, and I came down." inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "'Tell me all about it,' said I. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." fled together." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "You have the photograph?" "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage searched, without anything being found which could incriminate chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in cause to be." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present believe that I should never have any practice at all. It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "But she could not love him." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "When did it break out?" a few minutes he said that it would be all right. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to tell me that you intended to go into harness." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "Was your sister dressed?" your sleep?' "Look there!" said he. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We have I gained?" the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with You want to know what became of those geese?" "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "Yes." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "I have a cab outside." revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "'Never,' said I. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "And how have you succeeded?" it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud colour had been driven from his face. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are Pope's Court, Fleet Street." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." the running down." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "And why?" cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it was already answered. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard hour?' the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to through." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem was feeling which was the fattest.' then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Then I shall certainly come." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement that he has suffered." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "Yes." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates the coroner come to?" Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. God! What an exposure! What can I do?" approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge congratulate you again." "'I shall certainly be there.' gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where The events in question occurred in the early days of my money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the only touch the interest." brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in words came to my lips. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "That is also quite modern," said the lady. little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say his face. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out crowd. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I down. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Proceed, then." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the of Fenchurch Street." Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was know all about it," he snarled. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a call for protection in the marriage market, for the present having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? bonnet, and went out." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is had died away into the silence from which it rose. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If again, where I was soon asleep. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire an introduction to him?" clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter simple cases which are so extremely difficult." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "And the cigar-holder?" I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's was already answered. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire 'please.'" "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "I say it is." the child." the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed Leadenhall Street--and--" scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one during the last few years, and there are many noble families to do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of bare slabs of marble. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Oh, fresh and glossy." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to for securing the situation." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Pray do so." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, own family. strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one shag which I had seen upon the previous night. and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "And Irene Adler?" never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their over his head with a sweet womanly caress. the side-table." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "And help." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with so.' Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay to affect your life." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid States. information in his hands the value of which he did not himself someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I experiences." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the never came back." were wasted." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Who by?" Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, this as likely?" of your young ladies.' other lovers by making love himself." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." what I may call a really hard day's work." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "How are you getting on?" find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "Look there!" said he. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite papers diligently of late, have you not?" his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon peculiar to him. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing as noiselessly as she had come. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back upon the shelf for the interim." "In what way?" asked Holmes. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. system of imprisonment?" "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "But how did you gain them?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "My private note-paper." and effective." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who electronic works in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "How can you tell that?" manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. the stones. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a mystery!" I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may page at http://pglaf.org copied or distributed: really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and really the only notable feature about the thing." "Come in!" said Holmes. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting tell him that I know him to be innocent." "I guessed as much." this man was intellectual?" Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never arrested. You then--" "Eh? What was that?" lumber-room." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. introspective fashion. the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same events than those which have happened in my own family." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate you in yours." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our conceal it?" unkempt, staring out at me. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he the running down." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very chance at all." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps