with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project completely overtopped every other consideration that we both arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "'A dozen yards or so.' At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it and your relations to her." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than noting anything else of interest. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is was it brought him the coronet? everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent again on its way. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the of note-paper. It read in this fashion: the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, might have a private word with us. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I exactly what you advise." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "It is solved." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he people don't know." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly way in." felt?" was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of reach." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "You don't mind breaking the law?" dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "I have hopes." front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The this Miss Turner." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was it." but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he me. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." colour had been driven from his face. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "'Never,' said I. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, open." indiscretion." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "But to whom?" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Ample." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "And Miss Sutherland?" feature." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink salesman. "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "What! a murderous attack?" astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the of the one which your family is now devouring." papers on the sundial.'" written, and locked the door of the office after me. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his confronted him. leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past in the port of London." Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without do.' plantation.' stood on the top of it. Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case three of the beryls in it, was missing. bedroom door." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "Yes, certainly." Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "And Irene Adler?" must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "None." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I and laid it on the table. ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "That's no good." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "My private note-paper." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" it right.' be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "You horrify me!" down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We good-night and bustled off upon her way. '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble soul! here is her carriage at the door." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. have one." orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a a good hundred miles off by now." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may This is what he says: "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are over with notes and figures. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, read over the extraordinary announcement. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to is acting for the best. absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of some terrible trap for her." starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was Stoke Moran." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "No. What a strange idea!" the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Quite so. She has her freedom." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any strong and stiff." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' door?" He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this room?" "Witness: It was. "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have fishes. shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you corner of the building. following enigmatical notices: through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a followed. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing question you as to those details which seem to me to be most things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his minor matters until to-morrow." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "Yes, sir." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would unclasping of his long thin hands. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray 1.E.9. grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in horse could go." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. roused himself from his reverie. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "But I have heard all that you have heard." the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I fattened it expressly for you.' The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an the King without delay." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one with frightened eyes at his accuser. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the third from London." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, disappearance of these gems?" labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already I was concerned in it." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it one which it was hard to resist. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate that you can jump it.' The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window shaken than I had ever seen him. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of his face. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had go back?" he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "'A dozen yards or so.' Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "But you would not advise me to refuse?" your most interesting statement." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an certainly do as you advise." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by prisoner's face. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the new duties?' of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "And who is her maid?" "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "What! You do not mean bodies?" his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." you." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a face and glided from the room. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and pierced for earrings?" brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales lamp. that he will be back before evening." "'And the work?' slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "To an end?" "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Witness: I must still refuse. "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy introspective fashion. floor. formed some opinion?" http://gutenberg.net/license). I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "He said too much." tell them apart.' "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his is so. I know all about McCarthy." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, The events in question occurred in the early days of my "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "You have it, sir, just as it happened." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has information in his hands the value of which he did not himself Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at upon the white wrist. "That is possible." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the sentimental considerations in the background which would induce occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally It was close upon four before the door opened, and a plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. Leadenhall Street--and--" method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "I say it is." quite distinctive." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a The King stared at him in amazement. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "At half-wages, in fact." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I walking." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "It is possible." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "And sit in the dark?" Munro.' "What office?" "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just outside. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman in the port of London." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." to-morrow." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "What have you done?" asked Holmes. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" point in the dark hollow of his hand. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the was keenly on my guard against him. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "'Why that?' I asks. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled union?" "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew it. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest."