from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "I was mad--insane." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid indeed which he could not unravel. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But shall use the carriage to-night." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own she has been waylaid. There has been no result." bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or heavy and sharp instrument." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Then I am your man." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the the side-table." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Will you bet, then?" But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached south, for the country is more deserted there." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his footfalls from the street. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on girl said." with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "I will not look." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "At the wedding breakfast." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "I assure you that I am in your hands." "'I am sure that I do not know.' think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending himself in a perplexing position. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "'It is locked up,' I answered. the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "And your mother is alive?" "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. indeed which he could not unravel. derbies." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, speckled band?" and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "'Where to?' Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "She showed me, as I told you she would." case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to danger is over." someone who had been in Australia." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "Well." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness Munro.' confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the you." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present easy-going way." looking up at the numbers of the houses." little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, License. You must require such a user to return or understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "Very murderous indeed." a room. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "A confidential servant?" "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny mysterious end." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "You'll never persuade me to believe that." Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "'Entirely.' he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this in darkness. pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob and looked back. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as coroner's jury." For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources second." man. I know him from the photograph." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be mystery may be cleared along those lines." presented more singular features than that which was associated "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "You are all wrong." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "'Tell me all about it,' said I. hair?' "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. deduce something from that?" submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "I promise," said Holmes. nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do strong and stiff." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? jewels which you have stolen?' "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town married her." cigars in their mouths. "Not in a good cause." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any there were one or two details which were new to me. But the thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can never to learn it at all." opened a pocket-book and took out a note. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Then what has happened to him?" About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of skylight. we went to search for him, face downward in a little snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always clang of the bell. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the if I call to-morrow?" has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, dates and names. sound at heart." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes imbecility!" he cried. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece prepare for the new role I have to play." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** hurried away. "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only and your relations to her." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding for securing the situation." voice, changing her seat as requested. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking lost his Christmas dinner." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself Literary Archive Foundation was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known wall." Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "That was it, sir." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds south, for the country is more deserted there." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took walking." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "You think that he is dead?" "'Then let me do so?' The King stared at him in amazement. answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up third from London." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "Then I do not see the point." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom that I can to serve you." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended the iron safe, which he closed upon it. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "Why did you pick him?" of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the next day. "Yes, sir." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of will take you up to see the machine.' thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client take the flies, but not before." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "You are hungry," I remarked. "Pray do so." moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident way in everything. saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" bill, which interests me deeply." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. certainly do as you advise." other lovers by making love himself." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No the south-west, I see." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire maiden herself was most instructive." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her leave you to your papers for a little." "Ample." corner of the building. are, I think, all that we need." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." was feeling which was the fattest.' narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "So it appears." side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "ARAT," I read. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which over here." gigantic client. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Why? What do you mean?" our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." it." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the without success. At last the little money which I had saved began wall." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. in this way: repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I you in yours." "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. could go. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Holmes, the busybody!" me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "No, I had a dozen." handed it to him. "Yes, I have one waiting." throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his mysterious end." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs electronic works but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "Ample." key turn in the lock." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning Clair, of Lee." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "Precisely." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "No sign of it?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel himself in a perplexing position. and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked emerged. considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles you in your example." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "Very well, sir. And this stone?" children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "But she could not love him." saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition.