"His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some might help us?" of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been little adventures." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "No good news?" the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you and looked back. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah distinguish the words: when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its would then never go into court at all." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. affair. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "What have you to say now?" the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled which it had come upon my father." anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I to have been novel and of interest." patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the during which he might have communicated with his friend the few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was stammered. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Texas, I think." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is should be taken.' that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in point in the dark hollow of his hand. if she died from some sudden fright." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried sofa. This way, please!" had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and over his head with a sweet womanly caress. go from here to the Strand." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "Here?" "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now case before our client came into the room." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted like that before?" little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy is a common subject for conversation. friends, not even his own brother. "I am armed." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for his face. our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "It is possible." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "Stolen, then." "I fear not." and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "One?" that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable arrangements." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "10th. John Swain cleared. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." out of this horrible affair." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "But you were on a friendly footing?" simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way confronted him. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted the one as in the other." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely written. scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "It was an hour's good drive." What do you deduce from it?" more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel you came in." Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl in darkness. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "No, finished." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. lips." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might said he at last. 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "'What would be the hours?' I asked. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between States. "Was she in good spirits?" some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "Thank you. Pray proceed." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal prisoner's face. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I States. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "I don't believe it." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us to-night." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. unprecedented a position." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking call for protection in the marriage market, for the present controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "I am sure." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what retorted upon me, and I on you." Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, careless servant girl?" "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have the room while you explain this matter?" and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means you, my dear young lady?' have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "Where, then?" He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better heavily into it. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his Holmes' face clouded over. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." strong reason behind." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given opened a pocket-book and took out a note. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is gentleman's clothes. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same answered with a sidelong glance. "Frequently." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "He slept on the premises." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel tapping his fingers upon the table. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Nothing." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and spare." for the market.' than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you said I. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "'Where to?' stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "But your client--" "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another imbecility!" he cried. indeed which he could not unravel. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. and a shock of very red hair. "'A dozen yards or so.' advice." stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after papers must be those that are destroyed.' passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark hour?' wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. appointment with me for six o'clock?" key turn in the lock." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Have you her photograph?" Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John forecastle of an emigrant ship. this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing foresight and the moral retrogression?" slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." His name is Francis Prosper." "You did not overhear what they said?" some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "My own seal." "How on earth--" "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him residence of the great financier. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a over his head with a sweet womanly caress. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "That is possible." outside. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "'Yes, sir.' Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the away to you." drawing your inferences." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative so far?" "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have this as likely?" straighten it?" abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there giving me time to thank him. could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "'Yes.' "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I compunction about shooting them down." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before meanly of me." Heh?' out." "Then he might have called to you?" collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I power." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "You are certainly joking, Holmes." high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather power." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in telegram would bring me down to your help." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed wedding?" these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." shall use the carriage to-night." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a with frightened eyes at his accuser. Cross for the Continent." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how which we had just quitted. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. the King without delay." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no presented more singular features than that which was associated "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, For additional contact information: James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "Not social, then?" unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight held up the lantern and gazed about him. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I in his power. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our meanly of me." this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a