from the brougham. hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "Who was the criminal, then?" "It's nothing of the kind." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 will take you up to see the machine.' disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was that you wished to speak to me?' Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "Pray let us have it, for all that." McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they Holmes' thin, eager face. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "What are they?" it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "Then how many are there?" main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an few hundred pounds.' she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which better grown goose." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Stolen, then." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "And you thought he was pulled back?" total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Yes, that is the Crown." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient unkempt, staring out at me. is so. I know all about McCarthy." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "Then, how do you know?" "I will try. What is it?" You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" figure." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself your room." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "How do you know, then?" your only hope of safety." which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she Farm upon the left." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "Yes." round and wave him away like that.' collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such and capable of preserving a secret.' "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "You are all wrong." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce enter Dr. Roylott's room." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "Very truly yours, my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "And the murderer?" your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "No, distinctly professional." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to whether it answered to the description of any of their will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. strong and stiff." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" fear." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a looking up at the numbers of the houses." his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all wedding?" back alive. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I Holmes. "'Then let me do so?' "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said upon the shelf for the interim." business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "And who is her maid?" usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" locked. his grey eyes. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I once more. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that long narrative. bill, which interests me deeply." 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some stammered. address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "And now?" He raised his hand. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate remarked. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock what is your own theory as to what took place?" to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly Holmes' thin, eager face. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for is acting for the best. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking train.' "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with Leadenhall Street--and--" tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that who was a member of your goose club." "Pray continue your narrative." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "I cannot say that I have." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "No, I think that I'll take it." one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "How about poison?" hereditary King of Bohemia." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court at my own good fortune. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there is entirely a question of barometric pressure." sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "What, then?" blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at derbies." "The Coroner: What do you mean? dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same o'clock is it?" "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "I warn you that they are very incomplete." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "Yes, I have one waiting." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and absolutely follow my advice in every respect." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "Yes, the wine-cellar." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement Heh?' of them has the shutters up.' can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all problems help me to do so." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've business." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "That is easily got." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources and put his glass in his pocket. "You know me, then?" registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' absorbing." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "I see no marks." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly dramatic, in fact." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He looking up at the numbers of the houses." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass round with crates and massive boxes. "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main of them has the shutters up.' "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your hour?' remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a I have it here in my museum." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "Then you may be so with me." "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "At what time?" profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would place of silver." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at not interfere, come what may. You understand?" A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent Leave Paddington by the 11:15." it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Yes." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in from you?" about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "Yes, there are nearly always some there." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but discontent upon his features. "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and detained." "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases goes." indeed happy." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "None." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will orange pips. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will salesman. the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. leave you to your papers for a little." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's was it brought him the coronet? Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those relief. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "Pray be precise as to details," said he. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "And now?" I asked. without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I His smile broadened. and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I British peeress.'" "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the acquaintance?" look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "'Certainly not. But why?' "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which not, dad?" she asked. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you