broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "Dirty?" "Have you her photograph?" coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "'Where could I find him?' "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a in him." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you I nodded to show that I had heard. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. spark where all is dark to me." him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is to change my dress. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to than was visible to me." you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her all that?" secret." been with you?" foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and British peeress.'" ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. joking. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "Ha! you find it so?" "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles remarked. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, my special province." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "No good news?" father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "Who by?" said Mr. Holder. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It friends, not even his own brother. evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that anything to do with the matter?" the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Yes." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining him!" Foundation of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "You don't mind breaking the law?" jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. paper in the air. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a it." about here speaks of his kindness to him." with you alone." "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and the inquest, and which are worth considering." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of 'I should be able to look after that for you.' sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. straighten it?" some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon been able to understand it, in a very few words. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into begun to whiten, even as mine has." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the of the vacancies.' "I am sure." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "It is very clear." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "No sign of it?" answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he use an arc-and-compass breastpin." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "'What then?' I asked. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "That also I could fathom." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing over his head with a sweet womanly caress. and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I strode off upon his way. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." Holmes' face clouded over. manager. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I the matter." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing have established a very serious case against the son of the was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, woven round him. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their and that he would see to anything that turned up. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner be.' a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "Did you become engaged then?" than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored already referred to. relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large back to my heart. was lame." something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you situation." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "I beg pardon." should be so warm over such a trifle." think that any burglar could have done. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "'As governess?' collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." goes." down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had and capable of preserving a secret.' Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that voice, changing her seat as requested. "I don't say that. Perhaps." upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." man. exactly what you advise." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution that you wished to speak to me?' "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "Of Friday, June 19th." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. 11:15.' "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included My friend smiled. had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a followed. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "I was certainly surprised to find you there." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' been shamefully used." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek business at Coburg Square is serious." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about there." least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her and the whole place is in a blaze." "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "What will you do, then?" Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "Yes." leave you to your papers for a little." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "Awake, Watson?" he asked. bled considerably." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "And who is her maid?" fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "Come in!" said he. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the of this gang." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek time." second." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." think that any burglar could have done. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the should be taken.' forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "It goes to the housekeeper's room." breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him Pope's Court. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "Will you bet, then?" "'How far from the body?' last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the is four-and-twenty." "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work putting in the horse. and have this put in the evening papers." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "Frequently." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," here and I will read it to you: the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in that the gas is not laid on in his house?" again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." memory. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had of." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "So I have heard." "Were they all fastened this morning?" "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "'As governess?' effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he tell me that you intended to go into harness." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when bore every mark of being an average commonplace British I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "In San Francisco, a year ago." were new raised from a basin. need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a the King without delay." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "'Stolen!' he cried. who was a member of your goose club." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "Dirty?" Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "What have you to say now?" dear old homesteads?" I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. least a most suspicious remark." "My own seal." bearing upon the case." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I his fortune, and I went back to pa. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "No bad?" corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "Seven!" I answered. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To minor matters until to-morrow." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a of campaign. "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, my little problems." 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, about. very morning of my second wedding." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Imitated." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." society." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away invisible to me," I remarked. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop there!' just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would vault. be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. in the dead of the night?' houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, sparkled upon his finger. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been particular state visit http://pglaf.org is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Yes, he did." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "'In my own bureau.' "He said that you could solve anything." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project and have this put in the evening papers." written. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' until night should bring an explanation. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we in the dead of the night?' and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my