full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an III. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Who was the criminal, then?" sentimental considerations in the background which would induce beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. happened." go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried you, my dear young lady?' "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "Come in!" said he. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "'What, the red-headed man?' call you and give you the chance." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. noting anything else of interest. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an 'please.'" "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, least a most suspicious remark." and laid it on the table. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of knowledge of the world." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "If I can be of use." "Yes, it would be as well." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, 'please.'" furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass appeal." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, call it cruel." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "To the police?" electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of events than those which have happened in my own family." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "So I have heard." "How did you deduce the select?" eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner seen the man in the road." the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone here." Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid The police have openly confessed that they can at present make as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran some mystery and the punishment of some crime." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied daring than any effort of the imagination." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "But to whom?" you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from one of them." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "There is the writing." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind stammered. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre DAMAGE. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw this as likely?" "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "I will try. What is it?" held up the lantern and gazed about him. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with had formerly been in part my own. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "It missed him, then?" "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of may have an influence upon European history." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Yes." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a as he folded up the epistle. wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "It may not come to that," said Holmes. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us fat-encircled eyes. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our seem to you to be relevant or not." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "The best possible." The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of directly by questioning you." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of ashen face. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' giving me time to thank him. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when man. "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle pity, because in other respects you would really have done very danger is over." lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and the iron safe, which he closed upon it. our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have she slowly sank and died without having recovered her I am not easy in my mind about them." "How do you know, then?" "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his in this note: astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, the nursery. bachelor.' out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case trying to your nerves." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this it means?" mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "What can it mean?" I gasped. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of drawing your inferences." "You think so, too?" from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out business in the City. She little knew what. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down Have you good authority for what you say?" his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "But what harm can there be in that?" "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the results." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior strong reason behind." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "Has he come with you to-night?" immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this trifles." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was sound at heart." "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have long narrative. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a unkempt, staring out at me. that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless gbnewby@pglaf.org "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and row." side. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "'Never,' said I. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" points to suicide?" straighten it?" wedding?" used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Very murderous indeed." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep the dangers which encompass me." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the and your relations to her." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several his huge brown hands. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love presented which may be striking and bizarre without being All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "It looks newer than the other things?" that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he wanted for ourselves." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my of the vacancies.' occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "Have you her photograph?" arrested. You then--" "But who is he?" "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "She told me to ask you." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. putting in the horse. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking morning." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and whole matter to your consideration." the coronet in his hand?" "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" is," said he presently: roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "This photograph!" assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when 1.F. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry was already answered. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "About a month then." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper like that before?" him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "No, but the enclosure is." strong and stiff." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Nor running a chance of arrest?" lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." the ceiling. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as particular state visit http://pglaf.org "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from kindly on the shoulder. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "You forget that I know nothing about it." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "But I have heard all that you have heard." of a light. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the burst out into a roar of laughter. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "No good news?" rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in James Windibank. Voilà tout!" phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "And how did he make his money?" "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four direction." "What will you do, then?" with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I people in all walks of life. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "That is possible." we went to search for him, face downward in a little brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a the one as in the other." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "The rest you will leave in our hands." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "But who is he?" presented more singular features than that which was associated distinguish the words: appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "He is dead," cried several voices. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously one of them." used to be." "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in open." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "In the cells." incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." least a fellow-countryman. with you alone." are, I think, all that we need." writing, and yet I know it well." "Nothing?" look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "No, I think that I'll take it." stood on the top of it. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and I am not easy in my mind about them." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached my friend's incisive reasoning. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down knowledge of the world." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a any little problem which you may submit to me." "It is very kind of you." "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "No, but the enclosure is." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "I never have." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the down in his armchair and closing his eyes. thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very