down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the unprecedented a position." cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "Very well, sir. And this stone?" likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "Yes. He waved his hands." lectures into a series of tales." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. not come at once?" And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door companion. room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" goes." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and success. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, have been better. It is all right." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was Arthur Conan Doyle wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed like that before?" "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "I am following you closely," I answered. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "In answer to an advertisement." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that at home. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend Project Gutenberg-tm works. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of people don't know." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook it." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my strength in the others." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who States. coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "Murdered?" with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the minor matters until to-morrow." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be answered with a sidelong glance. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen not within a twentieth part of the market price." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you name is different." down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away me what he had done with the three missing stones. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact handed it to him. "Not in the least." money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "When did she vanish, then?" time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but whereabouts. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "Breckinridge is his name." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress my former friend and companion. one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a quickly through a disagreeable task. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the geese which you supplied to the Alpha." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." the loss of it. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would business at Coburg Square is serious." hard-headed British jury." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "'About the same.' "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" relief. not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "What do you mean?" "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not long narrative. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "What then?" All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments to have been novel and of interest." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a photograph?" "One of the highest in England." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "It must be recovered." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "It certainly sounds feasible." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the everything which you would wish to know." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "I fear not." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in head. So long, then!" finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was London for the present?" room. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "No, distinctly professional." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with here and I will read it to you: strode off upon his way. most interesting one." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the to miss it." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "No." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "Oh, the cause is excellent!" outside." "Won't it ring?" weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his questionable one." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." coroner's jury." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar lumber-room." rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "I have a cab outside." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good mystery may be cleared along those lines." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "'How far from the body?' heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of I think that I could be of assistance to you." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, colonel looking down at me. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "She will not sell." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "We were both in the photograph." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "It is half-past ten now." entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." had this final quarrel? I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us experiences." gives a meaning to it." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that Again Holmes raved in the air. of your young ladies.' there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." miles off. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "I am in hopes that she does." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "I think it very unlikely." like gravel from a pit.' James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "That is also quite modern," said the lady. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed union?" such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "'A dozen yards or so.' any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small would apply.' retorted upon me, and I on you." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my been shamefully used." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with do.' you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "You horrify me!" at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our From what you have told me I think that it is possible that exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to I nodded again. "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "But I am all in the dark." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "'Where could I find him?' colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me just ask you whether you had heard it.' "I cannot say that I have." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea Farm upon the left." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding pierced for earrings?" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a you give your casting vote to?" premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "The best possible." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "I cannot think." minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "But to whom?" said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those her also." The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "A thing like a cleaver," said he. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "How are you getting on?" this truth that in these little records of our cases which you his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "Do you receive much company?" he asked. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all or other trace. But how on earth--" to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "So I have heard." question. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the key turn in the lock." to a more successful conclusion." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite newspaper selections." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between the best of training." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' for its centre. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since true." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, The King stared at him in amazement. coat-tails." there has been an enclosure here!" speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this Heh?' and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, Mrs. Toller serenely. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "A thing like a cleaver," said he. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." voice, changing her seat as requested. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers down from London to inquire more deeply into it." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how as this. Pray let me have the details." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the see a sister of mine apply for." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "He is still with you, I presume?" we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there which I could not give. He asked for Alice. relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "ARAT," I read. "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "Can I be of assistance?" Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "What steps will you take?" I asked. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's the station." round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very even so self-evident a thing as that." "Stoke Moran?" said he. closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some The events in question occurred in the early days of my over his head with a sweet womanly caress. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, desk. clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at swore that no one else had been in the front room during the hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping will he say when he returns?" connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "What office?" "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "How are you getting on?" "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return Where does the thing come from?' hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, Countess of Morcar's?" have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal vanished into the darkness. shadow pass over his face as I spoke. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, DAMAGE. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "Why, it's a dummy," said he. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after happened." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "And Irene Adler?" "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate the little opening for the ventilator is." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled will not take me long to tell. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If six. Come in!" Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, your only hope of safety."