several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." national property. I was determined that the law should have its branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "The vanishing of the lady." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "Married! When?" Miss Holder?" forecastle of an emigrant ship. river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Yes, it would be as well." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Could he throw no light?" his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining were unconscious?" present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "It is his hat." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "My stepfather's business papers." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "Then I am your man." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will and put his glass in his pocket. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "That's no good." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. should be so warm over such a trifle." maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than examine." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in over with notes and figures. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the I. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "Never." the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "Very much so." "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." married her." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "'Quite sure, dad.' and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "Which are?" "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect then?" "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. visitors." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given It may be so in this case, also." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "I cannot say that I have." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how said he. "That you are never beaten." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and bore every mark of being an average commonplace British in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and new duties?' glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "On Monday." crime. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the up this clue while it is still hot." one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Perhaps we may make them less so." His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of Sutherland. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong the coronet in his hand?" same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "Which are?" what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense hands. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to unkempt, staring out at me. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "Absolutely none." could not have written that. It is the German who is so flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. Eyford at 11:15.' as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "I never have." II. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. she used." think that he is innocent?" light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Yes, from Horsham." "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has lost his Christmas dinner." quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers tassel actually lying upon the pillow. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, McCarthy." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the already been minutely examined." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that fact, we may call it conclusive." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not companion. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "What is it, then--a fire?" discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "By no means." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the tell me that you intended to go into harness." named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you learned something! Where are the gems?" having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "So I heard. You have him here?" the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I pictures, libraries, or plate. main points of my analysis." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me of." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish the house with me." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Have you it here?" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' never to learn it at all." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker The King stared at him in amazement. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "I know where it is." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "'Never,' said I. to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and which are rolled in Rotterdam." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, once more to my work. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY bearing upon the case." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its dead, shall be safe with us." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "Did you become engaged then?" narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. of Fenchurch Street." strength of mind to control. of your young ladies.' "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his enter into my head. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "The landlord of the Alpha." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." awkward doing business with an alias." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing fire. You quite follow me?" was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the crime." than was visible to me." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "'Then let me do so?' "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time sake, don't!" lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? bed dies. Does not that strike you?" took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when experiences." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than everything which you would wish to know." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, whether it answered to the description of any of their "Is he quiet?" them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the Holmes rather sternly. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the the night.' she might be summoned. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "Nothing?" dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "Ah!" had picked up in the wood. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried constraint." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "'I have heard so.' cost them two and thirty pounds." "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "I will try. What is it?" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "You heard nothing yourself last night?" In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, important." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." deduce something from that?" "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper success. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand to-morrow." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through floor. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "Yes." "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "And why?" "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "'Stolen!' he cried. admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes breakfast and whispered something to her husband. impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern of this gang." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting you came in." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with and all of them with the keenest interest. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the discontent upon his features. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make and inquire as to the address." sneer upon his pale face. surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old have been better. It is all right." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole throat." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "Breckinridge is his name." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about away in different directions, and I went off to make my own McCarthy's innocence. learned something! Where are the gems?" "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my call it cruel." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an washing it down with a long draught of water. Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I these bleak autumnal evenings." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that http://www.gutenberg.net unclasping of his long thin hands. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." south, for the country is more deserted there." that threaten you." "Her father is very rich?" presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our question," said Holmes, smiling. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me miles off. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler bears upon the case?" "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who villagers almost as much as their master. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "'How far from the body?' waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "Entirely." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "A greater distance to travel." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "I say that I have solved it." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "But how did you gain them?" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "My Mary? Impossible!" he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will despaired of." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the of receipt of the work. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "My photograph." dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached unprofitable." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be http://gutenberg.net/license). a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy province." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key,