is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "From his hat?" "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "How many? I don't know." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Do you know him?" the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Your French gold?" of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just hard-headed British jury." "'A dozen yards or so.' "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at before, for it was considerably after midnight. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by breakfast." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a easy-going way." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had until night should bring an explanation. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "Not particularly." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very yet." "I have hopes." annoyance, but no jest. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "What!" he roared. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding arrangements." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Who was the criminal, then?" you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest the Red-headed League." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "My dear Holmes!" not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at colour had been driven from his face. for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence society." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "I will not look." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the ordinary clothes on?" man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son point in the dark hollow of his hand. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their and inquire as to the address." "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly and prosperity to your house. Good-night." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, at a side door. unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "It may not come to that," said Holmes. will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Bought." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "But your client--" have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, disappearance of the bride.'" Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "Yes, there are nearly always some there." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have with you?" "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the was a lad." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she Lestrade of Scotland Yard." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "You have compromised yourself seriously." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "On Monday." place, I think that there is good ground to think that the seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that handed it to him. were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." ran thus: "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which gentleman's clothes. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. habit of advancing money.' surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of things are very often connected not with the larger but with the question you as to those details which seem to me to be most Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Quite so. She has her freedom." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I cheerful." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt looking up at the numbers of the houses." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "Can I be of assistance?" began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! shall use the carriage to-night." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "No, I had a dozen." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite politicians who had been sent down from the North. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this http://www.gutenberg.net upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with meanly of me." upon the sideboard." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that cigars in the box." photograph a cabinet?" it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your in. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "What, then, did Peterson do?" took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the weary and pale-looking. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his fashion which was peculiar to him. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Deserted you?" conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, hand, madam?" "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her stood on the top of it. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in have not had my rubber." cheerful." "They are typewritten," I remarked. pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't him nearly every evening." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my question. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and Watson," he said cordially. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining to take care of herself." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, his huge brown hands. had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and speckled band?" husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend call for protection in the marriage market, for the present its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "My dear Holmes!" could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the do." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not leave you to your papers for a little." days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I lips." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the had no one to advise her at such a crisis." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "I was mad--insane." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is the house with me." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." not fit the lock." side. way in." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" behind me. "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, house for five minutes.' works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain dates and names. of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this over his head with a sweet womanly caress. There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "His face fell immediately. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "How can you tell that?" here." "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "Witness: Nothing definite. correct than the official force." harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now as he remarks, very much against the son." unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The singular points about the case. What did the police think of the liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to politicians who had been sent down from the North. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "You have but to name it." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a it." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this and the church but not where the lady lived." "It is solved." unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "It was." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee this remarkable episode. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open name is different." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it along the entire front of the house, with three long windows Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "What will you do, then?" description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the new duties?' since then to throw any light upon what became of him." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "I will get her to show me." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this until night should bring an explanation. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "Ten will be early enough." house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it IS the night.' and no precautions can guard against." into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "I cannot say that I have." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "9th. McCauley cleared. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An when your master had gone out." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. Henry Baker is a member." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger his cane at the bell-pull. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "No, but the enclosure is." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I go--none." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your window when the police appeared." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And girl said." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he you understand?" always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton the matter." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be was shining brightly. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "'I shall certainly be there.' Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "Yes, the wine-cellar." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." events than those which have happened in my own family." particular state visit http://pglaf.org to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. distinguish the words: were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, such person." They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "Pray do so." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Yes." begun to whiten, even as mine has." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country States.