son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "They are typewritten," I remarked. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, is so. I know all about McCarthy." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his you understand?" been with you?" "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. think that any burglar could have done. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "And what did you learn from him?" "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to examine." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "Do you receive much company?" he asked. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Just look it up, then." "What! a murderous attack?" has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some house for five minutes.' man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a James Windibank. Voilà tout!" dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "But he might be a bachelor." that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was the south-west, I see." his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "Very. But will he see it?" "Yes, that is the Crown." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "'I have heard so.' Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House writer." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, the coronet in his hand?" "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as might have a private word with us. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at grasp, he hurried from the room. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the tied." it. pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." families. Now for the facts. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "No." skylight. drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "No more words. Get out!" resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "'Then let me do so?' served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial that?' sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This This is what he says: one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover the driver. middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." such person." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "The vanishing of the lady." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before astonishment. very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "You have it, sir, just as it happened." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "How did you deduce the select?" hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she used to be." him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "By no means." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very strength of mind to control. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the I leave." that and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the of the way of danger. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "Certainly." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "One of the highest in England." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Yes, the wine-cellar." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "What?" long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "None." "And I to find an enemy." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet direction." fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were hurried by. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each carriage. It was a chestnut." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really gentleman's clothes. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "And why?" "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at national property. I was determined that the law should have its our word." "You horrify me!" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently problems help me to do so." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she whatever might befall. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "About a month then." tear off another piece?' would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the feature." his eyes and forehead. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and completely overtopped every other consideration that we both open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and more solid." that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. bonnet, and went out." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his vanished into the darkness. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "Pray continue your narrative." took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "How long did she speak to this Alice?" contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned has little to do with my story." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, my room." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone not interfere, come what may. You understand?" great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "Oh, fresh and glossy." to-night?" I asked. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "Was there a secret marriage?" It may be so in this case, also." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "How did that help you?" to a light-house. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "Perhaps we may make them less so." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from asked. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "'Yes.' makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable the stable lane now." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." helping a boy to put up the shutters. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address might help us?" surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I them?" particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in fact, we may call it conclusive." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been to a light-house. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH outside. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic tear off another piece?' wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside from you?" 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy Foundation Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Never." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "And the cigar-holder?" whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "Yes?" but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll relation between them, and what the object of his repeated of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. tail." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "What do you mean?" round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "I have hopes." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will always that they were such commands as a lady might with mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon following enigmatical notices: inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's thin, with a long, sharp nose?" that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." the Red-headed League." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change events than those which have happened in my own family." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and was feeling which was the fattest.' you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "Then the page we have seen--" but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, my secret was safe in his possession. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "'Is 4 pounds a week.' clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their me upon any point which I do not make clear." guilty parties." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about house for five minutes.' "His face fell immediately. India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to Holmes' face clouded over. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police Serpentine Avenue. abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had secret." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough ventilator." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "'Oh, no.' other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "Imitated." cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "We must have a cab." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the reach." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "No more words. Get out!" things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the this Miss Turner." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we important." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager his face. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent think, you have already met." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and crime. hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was again on its way. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "'What do you call purely nominal?' over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off matter." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps system of imprisonment?" it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Precisely." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "'Most admirably.' investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study disappearance of these gems?" and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. and all of them with the keenest interest. "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of come either from the window or the door. My attention was "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. all that?" there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "I don't believe it." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your more solid." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and