that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from danger is over." "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss back to my heart. "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "I cannot say that I have." ways of our fellow-men." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Dr. Becher's." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be colonel looking down at me. description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "No sign of it?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "I am sure." probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "My own seal." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "By all means." tear off another piece?' she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an observed. Street. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the dead, shall be safe with us." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." it. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble vault. the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. enter Dr. Roylott's room." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "The murder was done with it." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "You are hungry," I remarked. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, States. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' mysterious end." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "I will try. What is it?" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." woven round him. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "And the murderer?" cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. But Holmes shook his head gravely. and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for the room while you explain this matter?" "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "So it appears." not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Won't it ring?" The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has pity, because in other respects you would really have done very owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. we went to search for him, face downward in a little desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway over his head with a sweet womanly caress. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and bill, which interests me deeply." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad The note was undated, and without either signature or address. though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Is he quiet?" "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' there when the Rucastles went away." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Then I can wait in the next room." "Witness: It was. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she unprecedented a position." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." telegram would bring me down to your help." "Where is it, then?" own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he morning." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all business at Coburg Square is serious." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "And how did you verify them?" "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "I saw her in conversation with her maid." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "Yes, the wine-cellar." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a door?" but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. discontent upon his features. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "Can I be of assistance?" "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "'A dozen yards or so.' Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "I have come for advice." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "What! You do not mean bodies?" laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the green of the new foliage. down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "Very. But will he see it?" police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in that?' the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been you for a few hours?" "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm him and tried to hold him back. "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you himself to tell his story. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can tell them apart.' o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "Yes." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest to me. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' passage and a tap at the door. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a writer." used to be." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." ready to-morrow?' The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high in my life." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the so far?" Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "Then how many are there?" urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies with some details as to your case." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "That is not always so easy." which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, it were putty." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "Ten will be early enough." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "I would give my fortune to have them back." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "'As governess?' some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "About a month then." one which it was hard to resist. "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. infinite languor in his face. front of me. politicians who had been sent down from the North. upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." away to you." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's conceal it?" "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him notes," he said. while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I it." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a Surrey." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That the warnings." appeared upon the scene." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them business at Coburg Square is serious." "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the both be extremely obliged.' cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "Yes." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or affection." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of highly," said Holmes. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." is worth.' of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of to tell." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "We were both in the photograph." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could even of instruction." "'Then let me do so?' "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient chamber." "He might." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "But not more so than I to find you." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in yet." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "But your client--" before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. secret." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon to-night?' shoulder; "he's all right." "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to your room." "Yes, that is the Crown." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' will be renamed. blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers strode off upon his way. hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "It is very kind of you." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love all that?" minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of and the church but not where the lady lived." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "No, but the enclosure is." strong and stiff." derbies." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds ceremony." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "Was your sister dressed?" "Certainly." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Thank you. Pray proceed." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, the iron safe, which he closed upon it. been deceived." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but formed some opinion?" dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "I was sure that I might rely on you." pressing in one house as in another. "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "'I am sure if I had known--' that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It were new raised from a basin. "How did he come?" "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." villagers almost as much as their master. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when clanging. prison!" "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at see a sister of mine apply for." "In San Francisco, a year ago." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "Has he come with you to-night?" "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "How did you deduce the select?" hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had anything to a woman, for she would have her way." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I remarked. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" detective. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the made him keep the appointment." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and here and I will read it to you: "Very well, sir. And this stone?" red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me chair. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He things are very often connected not with the larger but with the status with the IRS. have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn gbnewby@pglaf.org fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter.