quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness breakfast?" "Was your sister dressed?" "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." Doctor, of the paper and the date." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." miles off. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the the coroner come to?" afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and without success. At last the little money which I had saved began called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "'Very good.' ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for which should have the effect of calling the attention of the and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "I have solved it." object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to fluttered off among the others. hopeless attempt at recovering them." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is ran thus: matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "Yes." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "That's no good." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it security.' wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred back to my heart. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project disappearance of the bride.'" a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and green of the new foliage. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" go from here to the Strand." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe not, dad?" she asked. hereditary King of Bohemia." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated several quiet little villages up there." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "Then I shall certainly come." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if is entirely a question of barometric pressure." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. business." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "Why did you pick him?" "What then?" was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Nothing." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible tightly behind him. "Because he was handy and would come cheap." drove away. rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "'Quite sure, dad.' "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' garden below. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Nothing?" be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Yes. He waved his hands." I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes this Miss Turner." do." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "It came here." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you horse could go." "No sign of it?" soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could over with notes and figures. present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the information in his hands the value of which he did not himself and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst address. "I have a cab outside." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of opportunities to fix the problem. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "Did he not advertise?" left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "Nothing." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." written, and locked the door of the office after me. dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a affair. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "And Irene Adler?" you for a few hours?" in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and really the only notable feature about the thing." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. chamber." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about and no precautions can guard against." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "'I have already given you my word.' double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "Well, but China?" reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your went to the Alpha were town bred." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "I was afraid that you were engaged." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I my special province." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "You are all wrong." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End business." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who guilty one." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "What of the rat, then?" by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the Edgeware Road. horse could go." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had more solid." stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with what is your own theory as to what took place?" or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long bare slabs of marble. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in dramatic, in fact." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "May I see it?" morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and always that they were such commands as a lady might with to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Only as much as we can deduce." "Then I shall certainly come." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City to-night's adventure." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "What! You do not mean bodies?" to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. brain must have something in it." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting read over the extraordinary announcement. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "None." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the page at http://pglaf.org seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "Certainly." the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "Witness: Nothing definite. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed or in danger--" us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, and your relations to her." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' ready to-morrow?' You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "You have a clue?" but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. opened the door, and slipped through. "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the wife's character?" "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the distance from the station, and there we found the young lady License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Yes." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "A client, then?" at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." rose-bushes. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. get her out of the way." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "None. Neville wrote those words." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous straightened it out again. were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an way: goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had the bed, and you in that chair." "And what did you see?" "Stolen." doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to weapon." brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "I have a cab outside." himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Pray continue your narrative." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' upon the shelf for the interim." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "His face fell immediately. as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "One?" the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "It came here." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "I was certainly surprised to find you there." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very photograph?" "No." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to case-book, which he consulted. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "Witness: Nothing definite. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop God! What an exposure! What can I do?" 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "Not particularly." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the It may be so in this case, also." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to fasten all the windows?" monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then The King stared at him in amazement. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or death." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading learned something! Where are the gems?" case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, that he will be back before evening." stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. writers could invent nothing more crude." adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Yes." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "Where is it, then?" that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself God! What an exposure! What can I do?" with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, me upon any point which I do not make clear." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. fear." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ your only hope of safety." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "My photograph." My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a The police have openly confessed that they can at present make doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "BALLARAT." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' your sleep?' "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his him, that man would not have given me such complete information "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon in your London, you will know that the office of the company is see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking detective. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my figure." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main and no precautions can guard against." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had signal between you and your father? "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a floor. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter.