"It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "And leave your case unfinished?" had this final quarrel? know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "Nor running a chance of arrest?" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet constraint." For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right his forehead." "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "Very truly yours, Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "But how will you look?" power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. interests were the same as his." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have third from London." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An she used." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "She showed me, as I told you she would." everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Never to return." the so-precious time, but come!' "But how could you guess what the motive was?" police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with characteristics, but those are the more obvious." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of Gutenberg-tm License. table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank her also." "I say that I have solved it." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Then you may be so with me." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "It is very kind of you." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It British peeress.'" know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came always that they were such commands as a lady might with What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears feature." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "Dirty?" leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "Yes." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other present." emerged. some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Thank you. And your address?" One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method I nodded to show that I had heard. band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "Yes." I am not easy in my mind about them." your billet.' for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and against a man in the prime of life?" questionable one." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the yet." prison!" wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent stepfather?" "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had The King stared at him in amazement. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it matters immensely." "Eh? What was that?" married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near III. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his there." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a undoubtedly my uncle's." still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Then what has happened to him?" betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent geese which you supplied to the Alpha." the King without delay." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir relief. at my own good fortune. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" persecution?" ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern which our visitor detailed to us. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able ventilator." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "It is half-past ten now." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "I came to find a friend." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "Where is it, then?" business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with mystery." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as his knees, staring into the fire. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the garden below. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "Nor running a chance of arrest?" I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "Get out!" said he. which our visitor detailed to us. you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "So I have heard." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold tightly behind him. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story results." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Proceed, then." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for Pool. ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "And you thought he was pulled back?" typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able province." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but the matter." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, place, I think that there is good ground to think that the from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a drawing your inferences." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Here?" doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice went to the Alpha were town bred." indeed which he could not unravel. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson tightly behind him. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added his huge brown hands. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Your presence might be invaluable." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "Stoke Moran?" said he. records." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for papers on the sundial.'" his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an brandy and water within his reach. that, and I came down." over with notes and figures. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "'You doubt its value?' he asked. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. you." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "Which surely he restored to their owner?" and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." bled considerably." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "No, I think that I'll take it." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "Well, it is a possible supposition." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "It missed him, then?" I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their pity, because in other respects you would really have done very now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "'You cannot say what it was?' clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch present." becomes even more simple." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "Well, it is a possible supposition." "Pray let us have it, for all that." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he leave you to your papers for a little." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of the address that was given us in the advertisement. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right investigation." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "Breckinridge is his name." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "On the contrary, this is the right side." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the chair. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek conduct the inquiry." question. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "'Tell me all about it,' said I. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother useful material for showing traces. The double line a little pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a some place of shelter and let the county police know what has bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable which we had just quitted. "And leave your case unfinished?" "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "It is true that I have been generally successful." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "I cannot tell." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me front of the hall door has given its name to the place. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and Clair, of Lee." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. that?' through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a presented which may be striking and bizarre without being had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They enter into my head. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a noble correspondent could be. records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I nonsense.' "I will not look." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It derbies." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their begin with, and I had not got mine yet." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a had no one to advise her at such a crisis." when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what spare." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general gone. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't footfalls from the street. far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it lips." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter make me his representative both with the servants and with the sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a nights." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "This photograph!" keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "To an English lawyer named Norton." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Yes." "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a that you saw all that I did." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he followed. brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your walking." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' coroner's jury." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of returning from some small jollification and was making his way About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the 'please.'" and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "You have but to name it." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it