"The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common is," said he presently: without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "I cannot tell." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a ways of our fellow-men." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, gone. of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one of Fenchurch Street." "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Yes?" I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell tension within him. vault. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "'I shall certainly be there.' "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "And Irene Adler?" the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. in the port of London." warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "What, then, did Peterson do?" And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our out." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of just called myself is not exactly my own." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "And help." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "'What would be the hours?' I asked. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "No. What a strange idea!" of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "'And what salary do you ask?' "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me third from London." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he ready to-morrow?' 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "I was mad--insane." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the a suggestive one." here." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the south, for the country is more deserted there." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Eh? What was that?" nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, whole matter to your consideration." owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or and capable of preserving a secret.' Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out the inquest, and which are worth considering." "'Then let me do so?' years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a gone. goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "I have solved it." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether shall use the carriage to-night." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both he died? in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "You know me, then?" rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "In answer to an advertisement." something of him before." "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the as he remarks, very much against the son." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "So I am. Very much so." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "'Quite sure, dad.' little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage neither fascinating nor artistic." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "You have carte blanche." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of pity, because in other respects you would really have done very travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of infinite languor in his face. Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "When did it break out?" answered with a sidelong glance. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "Never." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "'Certainly,' I answered. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "No." be there in time for your coming." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the me upon any point which I do not make clear." managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Not social, then?" o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was she to prove their authenticity?" cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best few hundred pounds.' work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had Cross for the Continent." tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "Then what has happened to him?" saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "One horse?" interjected Holmes. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and good-night and bustled off upon her way. brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I them?" have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and once more. whether it answered to the description of any of their have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate the matter." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" swore that no one else had been in the front room during the your sleep?' wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "I cannot imagine." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he in your London, you will know that the office of the company is married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature their singular warning or token before them when starting upon course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "Did you become engaged then?" son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from said he. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually to miss it." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the back alive. uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number this poor creature." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled that I can to serve you." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and in a friendly supper." the station." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "Precisely so. But how--" Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter fluttered off among the others. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. colonel looking down at me. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "Do you receive much company?" he asked. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with about here speaks of his kindness to him." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every back into the street. moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them wife's character?" reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the and wait." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a her also." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "You have compromised yourself seriously." "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "What! a murderous attack?" "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "The murder was done with it." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her less than 26s. 4d. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "So it appears." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point call it cruel." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. had formerly been in part my own. Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "'Stolen!' he cried. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "The gentleman I describe." "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "The murder was done with it." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he as he remarks, very much against the son." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had front of the hall door has given its name to the place. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "But it has twice been burgled." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. good for you to do.' disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "In what way?" asked Holmes. do." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would o'clock is it?" there was no need for father to know." river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "I say that I have solved it." "Yes, all." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "And you thought he was pulled back?" have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "How can you tell that?" Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger distinguish the words: could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "But you were on a friendly footing?" chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "In which, sir?" some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let you." lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the to me. Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." to that open window." "We were both in the photograph." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an highroad, where all traces were lost. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." voice, changing her seat as requested. "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "And what then?" 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at child?' "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had arrested. You then--" backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "Not social, then?" "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "'Where to?' after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will instituted." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "Where did you address your letters, then?" that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, pity, because in other respects you would really have done very pressing in one house as in another. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness outside." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." when you have done it." nothing with him." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some such person." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing four million human beings all jostling each other within the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be shall use the carriage to-night." man. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he to arrive at through this?" "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I had picked up in the wood. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What garden below. superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "No, distinctly professional." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might present strange and interesting features that it is no easy Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong friend's singular character. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the the nursery. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss are windows in it, of course?" sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a unclasping of his long thin hands. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his you want, then?' let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered.