"This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "'Is 4 pounds a week.' second window is the one that I jumped from." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm the address that was given us in the advertisement. my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "How about poison?" of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction did not hear it also.' to-night." already been minutely examined." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "'As governess?' reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter showing my impatience. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Precisely." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the retorted upon me, and I on you." writing, and yet I know it well." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too not fit the lock." article?" a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to place of silver." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering and it need not interfere very much with one's other "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were asked with his eyes open. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that how narrow had been my escape. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "No sign of it?" has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to nothing of it?" these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "They are typewritten," I remarked. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate country, and eventually married, without anyone having a come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the felt?" inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the past. my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what whether it answered to the description of any of their became a certainty. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for approach us with offers to donate. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "But I have heard all that you have heard." as this. Pray let me have the details." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and vague figure huddled up in the darkness. once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the bonnet, and went out." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his hurried by. foot. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have forehead. "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the yards of it?' "You know me, then?" male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "Precisely so. But how--" Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my had this final quarrel? nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be desk. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "Really! You surprise me." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" strength in the others." and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "I am sure." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There orange pips. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. experiences." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be October 9, 1890. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place out of this horrible affair." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That it." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "On your arm?" glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice used to be." "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. her also." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Yes." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! photograph?" coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "But what harm can there be in that?" speckled band?" takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some is four-and-twenty." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our it with his own hands." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" speckled band?" "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. rose-bushes. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange papers." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Here?" charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "And when will you call?" "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for him and tried to hold him back. in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want of this gang." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "He slept on the premises." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the away in different directions, and I went off to make my own refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still and prosperity to your house. Good-night." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too of Mr. Rucastle's." unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "I promise," said Holmes. "I am still in the dark." manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, direction." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been tear off another piece?' Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever to his chemical studies. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "I am all attention, madam." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my all?" since then to throw any light upon what became of him." the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture better grown goose." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will light and attacked it." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do companion quietly. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular entirely lost his self-respect." memory. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "Ha! you find it so?" washing it down with a long draught of water. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm the station." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See occurred." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a congenial hunt. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said she to prove their authenticity?" be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is fled together." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months out of this horrible affair." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" companion quietly. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" beyond words. developed." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about silent! Oh, he will be silent!' rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in it." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," and glanced through. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will distance from the station, and there we found the young lady being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." handed it to him. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed affair. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely humiliation." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "And Irene Adler?" received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "Very. But will he see it?" hour." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "I will, Miss Turner." You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" is acting for the best. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "How many? I don't know." "Here?" come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose place of silver." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has Doctor, of the paper and the date." adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was his huge brown hands. to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. silent! Oh, he will be silent!' most interesting one." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out trying to your nerves." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "Stolen, then." keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent is so. I know all about McCarthy." to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and British peeress.'" be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love there is a decided draught." prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming examine." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person narrative." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he morning." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "I cannot tell." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Indeed! Whose, then?" very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some door?" "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his promised to bring home. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet him to go away.' week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "What! Had he lost his wife?" all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no matter." "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "I would give my fortune to have them back." reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Where, then, is my wife?" "'About the same.' "So it appears." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Witness: Nothing definite. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and believe that I should never have any practice at all. Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old individual and becomes the badge of a society." you came in." expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "About a month then." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of constraint." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "No, I am descending." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the will find little credit to be gained out of this case." national property. I was determined that the law should have its dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very might help us?" settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "And for present expenses?" The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Then I shall certainly come." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "I would pay ten." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical voice, changing her seat as requested. "But she could not love him."