laugh and put his lips to my ear. I have it here in my museum." "I never have." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, excitement. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. strength." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "Then I do not see the point." moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness the salesman. which I could not give. He asked for Alice. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, already referred to. front of me. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, south, for the country is more deserted there." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "How on earth--" "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have the tragedy. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "You have carte blanche." looking up at the numbers of the houses." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "'Where to?' nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. following enigmatical notices: horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An what do you think they found in the pockets?" work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "My last client of the sort was a king." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, your most interesting statement." call you and give you the chance." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his weighed down with some great anxiety. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and him, that man would not have given me such complete information "Do you receive much company?" he asked. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a His name is Francis Prosper." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you delighted to hear it," he said. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "And why in hopes?" bedroom door." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "ARAT," I read. persecution?" down. in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found excitement. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "What do you mean?" confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "No, my brougham is waiting." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." joking. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have weary and pale-looking. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "'Yes, I promise.' "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Yes." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem intimate personal affairs in this public manner." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. the very morning of the wedding." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But your room." "'Oh, no.' that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "Did you observe the colour?" naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "I cannot say that I have." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him speckled band?" air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather someone who had been in Australia." original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your within hail.' that I can to serve you." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the sofa. This way, please!" mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since characteristics, but those are the more obvious." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a do you make of it all?" his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was prison!" joking. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped License. You must require such a user to return or see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Holmes rather sternly. "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not States. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "That sounds a little paradoxical." He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. that you wished to speak to me?' pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large if I call to-morrow?" guilty one." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. upon a handsome competence. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "And that is--" the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Which are?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the asked with his eyes open. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. envelope. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making and prosperity to your house. Good-night." suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided *** START: FULL LICENSE *** than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular tail." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. his fortune, and I went back to pa. back alive. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the upon the white wrist. said he. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea that you wished to speak to me?' "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "At half-wages, in fact." "And I say east," said my patient. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "It is to him that this trophy belongs." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "But how?" inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the cigar and let me expound." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "But you can know nothing of this?" Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "But she will refuse." "Always." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. colour had been driven from his face. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "Nothing." "Eh? What was that?" of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." said he. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the nonsense.' o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "I have a cab outside." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, voice, changing her seat as requested. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "Was there a secret marriage?" "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, one of them." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off six. Come in!" Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in it right.' this poor creature." nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the where we are going." my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "Breckinridge is his name." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble I nodded to show that I had heard. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of has little to do with my story." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about success. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the upon the shelf for the interim." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given His name is Francis Prosper." possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the in the hope of finding them." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should up this clue while it is still hot." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "He said that you could solve anything." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "You have a clue?" adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the him to go away.' "I shall be delighted." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "And I." "'Stolen!' he cried. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather page at http://pglaf.org All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and charged with?" pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large the house with me." than to us. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the fluttered off among the others. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I behind me. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. back into the street. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been events than those which have happened in my own family." thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet woman who has had her own way to make in the world. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed it? Did I buy the geese off you?" hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited events than those which have happened in my own family." "Who by?" unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "But how did you gain them?" you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending The summons was a brief and urgent one. cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "The vanishing of the lady." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the if she died from some sudden fright." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What good-night and bustled off upon her way. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in The note was undated, and without either signature or address. the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered galvanised. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I ashen face. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a flock.' "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "How are you getting on?" all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "That is also quite modern," said the lady. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to developed." "By no means." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need excitement. It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and opened a pocket-book and took out a note. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? weary and pale-looking.