at home. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in unkempt, staring out at me. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of how narrow had been my escape. had a long day." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "Ten will be early enough." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, the salesman. sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been followed. ready to-morrow?' caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my and put his glass in his pocket. did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "My stepfather's business papers." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "And sit in the dark?" from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who outside. good-night and bustled off upon her way. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." eat it." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich opened the door, and slipped through. "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business your co-operation." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will strode off upon his way. man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "Oh, yes, easily." have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the This is what he says: clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many of your young ladies.' said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable empty. Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs tell me that you intended to go into harness." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "Well?" St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would to have that photograph." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "I fear not." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of foot. conclusions. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and Foundation because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of guilty parties." "I am to be neutral?" sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "How on earth--" undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "Pray tell us what has happened to you." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast putting in the horse. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, himself to hunt down. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the young Openshaw's." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began meant it for the best. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "Dark enough and sinister enough." events, Mr. Windibank!" before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no States. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I the warnings." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "In San Francisco, a year ago." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "He is dead," cried several voices. the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent and have this put in the evening papers." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "Very. But will he see it?" works. See paragraph 1.E below. "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "And what did you see?" ways of our fellow-men." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To For additional contact information: murdered man." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the Holmes rather sternly. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" in my life." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the Chief Executive and Director "Certainly." point in the dark hollow of his hand. have established a very serious case against the son of the drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Then you may be so with me." that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is as he folded up the epistle. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Oh, yes, easily." it." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and whatever might befall. call for it in person on Monday morning.' "His face fell immediately. "I promise," said Holmes. own family. bill, which interests me deeply." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since hurried by. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "I will try. What is it?" wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother woven round him. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "I have seen the police." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent there when the Rucastles went away." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the But Holmes shook his head gravely. your co-operation." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no mysterious business." still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Game for a morning drive?" me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot been deceived." valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others the child." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the before, for it was considerably after midnight. fattened it expressly for you.' would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "'Entirely.' out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or British peeress.'" bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no Street. prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at acquaintance?" and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon But Holmes shook his head gravely. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid 1.E.9. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of had picked up in the wood. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman digesting their breakfasts at home." address. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "And Irene Adler?" nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. case-book, which he consulted. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been Mary, has deserted me." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But it means?" gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "You have carte blanche." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "Upon what point?" were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "What of the rat, then?" you give your casting vote to?" shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see used to be." and your relations to her." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the Serpentine Avenue. should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what ill-usage at the hands of fortune. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia that the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "You have but to name it." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "Here?" this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain strong reason behind." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 in your London, you will know that the office of the company is suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the know all about it," he snarled. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "I shall most certainly do so." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my and no precautions can guard against." "'Which dealer's?' "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. Countess of Morcar's?" "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "'A dozen yards or so.' until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind redistribution. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "I think that it is very probable." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because garden below. it." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the morning." works. See paragraph 1.E below. sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about that he has suffered." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "But you would not advise me to refuse?" a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," tension within him. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I been." "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "'It is locked up,' I answered. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to said Mr. Holder. paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the will take you up to see the machine.' he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See waste of energy." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the three of the beryls in it, was missing. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party despaired of." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. here and I will read it to you: look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible the coronet in his hand?" business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the bird of prey. "9th. McCauley cleared. "I came to find a friend." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong jewels which you have stolen?' his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. nights." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "'Certainly not. But why?' and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "Absolutely?" "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms see a sister of mine apply for." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' an introduction to him?" Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "Could he throw no light?" Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you