so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "What office?" of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at power." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business bare slabs of marble. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Yes." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard passage and a tap at the door. "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the past. Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "One of his hands." to take care of herself." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." goes." before the coroner and the police-court." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning business." sound at heart." empty. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Where, then, is my wife?" "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat the address that was given us in the advertisement. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who chemical work which was so dear to him. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow bird of prey. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." said he. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "I never have." playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could the salesman. be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "'Most admirably.' his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past kind enough to tell me what I should do." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a whereabouts. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "Game for a morning drive?" card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "Dark enough and sinister enough." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "He said that you could solve anything." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "Pray be precise as to details," said he. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window some terrible trap for her." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "I am about to be married." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general matter." felt the room to be a little close.' Street. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my in. of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "Awake, Watson?" he asked. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable I have it here in my museum." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "Stoke Moran?" said he. not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "What of the rat, then?" "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United would apply.' as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I interests were the same as his." prepare for the new role I have to play." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "That is it on the dressing-table." and no precautions can guard against." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt ashen face. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a bill, which interests me deeply." and wait." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition imbecility!" he cried. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "What then?" all?" and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "The Coroner: What do you mean? at once, for I have only half an hour." "And what did you learn from him?" "This concluded the examination of the witness." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third felt the room to be a little close.' foot. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that likely to be some crony of the landlady's." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Which are?" charged with?" London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me matter." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He retorted upon me, and I on you." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full delirious. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on which it had come upon my father." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "Can I be of assistance?" great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "The vanishing of the lady." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." fasten all the windows?" woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' happened." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, views." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like giving me time to thank him. "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold evidence," I remarked. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Witness: It was. the coronet in his hand?" and have this put in the evening papers." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "It looks newer than the other things?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced mysterious end." "How do you know, then?" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Get out!" said he. "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we spare." Serpentine Avenue. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "The King of Scandinavia." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "I say that I have solved it." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small and no precautions can guard against." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to call for protection in the marriage market, for the present beg that you will break it off." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "But he might be a bachelor." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, companion quietly. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly as the one I chose?' through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled IS should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just I shall continue with my miserable story. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. me what he had done with the three missing stones. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Who by?" "By no means." to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social but preventing her from injuring another. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin are windows in it, of course?" "Because he was handy and would come cheap." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has off." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the address. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "But what is it you wish?" the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one handed it to him. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "Stoke Moran?" said he. though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "Were they all fastened this morning?" derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? ran thus: front of the hall door has given its name to the place. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a was a perfect sample of the class. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." infinite languor in his face. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no signal between you and your father? found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left it means?" I was concerned in it." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "I will do it." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide at my remark. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, works. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon system of imprisonment?" "Who was the criminal, then?" accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she whether it answered to the description of any of their case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are giving me time to thank him. you in your example." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, soul! here is her carriage at the door." endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when and inquire as to the address." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "By all means." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "Frequently." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they them present such singular features as the strange train of "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little off." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able might help us?" of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "But of what society?" this man was intellectual?" know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "'As governess?' moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "He disappeared so suddenly." "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, presume?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "But you have hopes?" his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "But how?" "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, shall use the carriage to-night." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' house for five minutes.' loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "'What do you call purely nominal?' "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard the address that was given us in the advertisement. words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential a good hundred miles off by now." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to to some other building. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Yes." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how people don't know." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." mystery!" set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" to that open window." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my never will be, entirely cleared up. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which allusion to a rat. has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An fire. You quite follow me?" no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary article?" the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," present." strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I companion imperturbably. dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "So it appears." King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "I will try. What is it?" into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Which surely he restored to their owner?" expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously standing smiling on the door-step. This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any 'please.'" husband's writing, madam." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "You horrify me."