long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "Yes, it was twisted." which it had come upon my father." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that the general public were present, then?" "Who by?" dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, particular state visit http://pglaf.org the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in friends, not even his own brother. confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some wall." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, of your young ladies.' behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It the matter." gives a meaning to it." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, or other trace. But how on earth--" myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A yet." floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a was already answered. delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has be sorry for having acted so harshly." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter been able to understand it, in a very few words. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. skylight. He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after stood on the top of it. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "Where, indeed?" Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "You think that he is dead?" "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Will you bet, then?" "And your father? Did you tell him?" magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may noting anything else of interest. to change my dress. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "In what way?" asked Holmes. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of get her out of the way." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich *** START: FULL LICENSE *** had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away was not a bird to be seen there. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is points in connection with it which never have been, and probably miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little cup of tea. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking forecastle of an emigrant ship. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "So I have heard." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Oh, yes, easily." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him McCarthy's innocence. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had or in danger--" "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "From his hat?" "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would unkempt, staring out at me. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "How did you trace it, then?" the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "'Ample.' "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his just called myself is not exactly my own." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, again on its way. "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he as yours." "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy call for it in person on Monday morning.' It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "Just look it up, then." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every me. You must get home instantly and act." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, the very morning of the wedding." it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "'Yes, sir.' shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker were wasted." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made The summons was a brief and urgent one. "What can you not understand?" the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the present." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had shall use the carriage to-night." his face. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a was not a bird to be seen there. "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "Yes." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the Miss Holder?" conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man becomes even more simple." suspect him." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to answered with a sidelong glance. work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a with some details as to your case." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your him, that man would not have given me such complete information "But how did you gain them?" creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of hurried by. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds distance from the station, and there we found the young lady was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my brought there to personate someone, and the real person is Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the call for protection in the marriage market, for the present with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled persecution?" this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a that I can to serve you." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered the matter." "Where is it, then?" there!' WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO coroner's jury." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought some mystery and the punishment of some crime." me." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "'How far from the body?' servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so congenial hunt. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment Cross for the Continent." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. man. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, must compliment you." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "Well, some hundreds of times." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "What then?" something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "Here?" for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the before, for it was considerably after midnight. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save directors have had misgivings upon the subject." look upon these things in a different way." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "On Monday." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over touch that coronet?' caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "About a month then." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the address. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord she used." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "In which, sir?" danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached husband's writing, madam." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "You forget that I know nothing about it." "None. Neville wrote those words." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "What can you not understand?" in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them the so-precious time, but come!' cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback lost nothing by them." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." which was all perfectly true. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon not come at once?" you do it in twenty minutes!' at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "What! You do not mean bodies?" for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious salesman. introspective fashion. discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have just ask you whether you had heard it.' to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his think you a quite exceptional woman." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable thirty. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "'Then let me do so?' "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he go from here to the Strand." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic experiences." name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were do.' look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat standing smiling on the door-step. located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this colour had been driven from his face. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the village inn over there?" said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson nothing of it?" is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "Do you receive much company?" he asked. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to in this note: inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it His smile broadened. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "At what time?" came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young copied or distributed: "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, British peeress.'" is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "What have you done?" asked Holmes. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "Then I am your man." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining been lifted and conveyed somewhere." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left front of the hall door has given its name to the place. forecastle of an emigrant ship. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms rooms." "Won't it ring?" the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace."