records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, became a certainty. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the memory. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon him." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than upon a handsome competence. "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, woman who has had her own way to make in the world. business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch most important business. It is probable that he will be away all business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his how narrow had been my escape. the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his again on its way. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper round and wave him away like that.' "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "Have you it here?" pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had cheerful." thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year call the police, let the police find what they can.' across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was into the room. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the cigars in their mouths. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of examine." not as remarkable as your advertisement." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he gbnewby@pglaf.org "But you can know nothing of this?" both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "A call for help, you thought?" clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the coronet in his hands?" danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "On Monday." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and shadow pass over his face as I spoke. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master married her." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want third from London." and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "By no means." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this could not have written that. It is the German who is so known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my you?" return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry with you?" Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. feature." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Why serious?" it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of himself. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "His face fell immediately. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my generous with you in money matters.' hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "Where, then, is my wife?" suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us the salesman. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "Can I be of assistance?" matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these singular points about the case. What did the police think of the respectable self." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is here and I will read it to you: Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your skylight. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "What of the rat, then?" with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the pity, because in other respects you would really have done very and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps hurried by. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." is so. I know all about McCarthy." his forehead." attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found trying to your nerves." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "Here?" "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Then he might have called to you?" the child." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from said I. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend discontent upon his features. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut Arthur Conan Doyle He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down one's self under obligations.' well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did point our research must commence, and we will begin it by band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" laugh and put his lips to my ear. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." row." hereditary King of Bohemia." he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "That is easily got." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, upon the white wrist. "It certainly sounds feasible." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our which our visitor detailed to us. swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "Certainly." evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client interest. They are important, you understand, without being statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Stolen." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, 'I should be able to look after that for you.' the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the Have you good authority for what you say?" Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent quickly through a disagreeable task. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "In what way?" asked Holmes. assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was are, I think, all that we need." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "What office?" "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for lumber-room." "I don't believe it." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his approach us with offers to donate. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an notes," he said. what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me to me. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Yes." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found least a fellow-countryman. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The business in the City. She little knew what. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. shoulder; "he's all right." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." up this clue while it is still hot." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a as this. Pray let me have the details." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to for its centre. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "At what time?" me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "Nothing?" my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand answered with a sidelong glance. through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had where we are going." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be said he, "my real name is James Ryder." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you DAMAGE. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." your troubles." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "How can you tell that?" in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. the room while you explain this matter?" father's young wife. But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the both be extremely obliged.' as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "Entirely." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman chill to my heart. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the business." "Her father is very rich?" delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." Sutherland. assist you in forming an opinion." fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see my friend's incisive reasoning. at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Precisely." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything persecution?" "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever outsides of the windows. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties guilty parties." look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." public press." from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the fact, we may call it conclusive." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "An enemy?" prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy direction." have been better. It is all right." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Perfectly so." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage wall." "Yes, certainly." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for Have you good authority for what you say?" facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to money should be paid at once.' "I will get her to show me." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns directly by questioning you." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant for securing the situation." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, miles off. He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, have established a very serious case against the son of the light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the or in danger--" relief. locked. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great second window is the one that I jumped from." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some them, and came down just as you departed. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to characteristics, but those are the more obvious." existence." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "Yes, from Horsham." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I fashion which was peculiar to him. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "Not in the least." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "No, I think that I'll take it." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "My photograph." you?' "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which of the one which your family is now devouring." allusion to a rat. the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "It is a murder, then?" from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be papers must be those that are destroyed.' cup of tea. that?' "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "No good news?" down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest bearing upon the case." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, you?" coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "Very much so." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "What of the rat, then?"