stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "The gentleman I describe." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "Yes. He waved his hands." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the to you." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between British peeress.'" he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "You'll never persuade me to believe that." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "He slept on the premises." charge against him will break down." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and the coronet in his hand?" particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week not, dad?" she asked. guilty one." locked." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are indiscretion." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and maiden herself was most instructive." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "The vanishing of the lady." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the lids now and glanced across at his visitor. colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was that?' less than 26s. 4d. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, into the bag, and made for the door. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "I beg pardon." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man completely overtopped every other consideration that we both accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Deserted you?" families. Now for the facts. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally was not a bird to be seen there. my friend's incisive reasoning. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "I have hopes." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "Will you bet, then?" said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a Cross for the Continent." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which Clair, of Lee." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as in. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at good-night and bustled off upon her way. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "Stolen, then." "Yes." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa results." was a perfect sample of the class. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "So I have heard." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "In heaven's name, what for?" parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away threw himself down with his face to the pillow. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger then?" "I have my revolver," said I. hands. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the strode off upon his way. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other fuss that is made over them." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a means taking possession of that which another person has a prior to his chemical studies. seem to you to be relevant or not." for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" the inner apartment." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and sufficient punishment." least a fellow-countryman. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "It missed him, then?" a good hundred miles off by now." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the against a man in the prime of life?" beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall closing the door. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net his face. "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I hard-headed British jury." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is intrusion of other matters." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were what do you think they found in the pockets?" strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had returned to France?" across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "I was certainly surprised to find you there." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "Never." "Here?" there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "It must be recovered." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. breakfast." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "But of what society?" old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, asked. he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "It came here." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off your own bird, so if you wish--" "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. hour?' so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "No bad?" quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a it right.' is worth.' This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you the address that was given us in the advertisement. "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "No, my brougham is waiting." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to upon the white wrist. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "I have my revolver," said I. "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any of the vacancies.' "Yes." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. matter over." lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of are windows in it, of course?" explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of problems help me to do so." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at directors, with the result that you have seen." dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious as the one I chose?' have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike round with crates and massive boxes. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little introspective fashion. written. out of this horrible affair." with some details as to your case." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." narrative." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking to tackle the facts." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that round and wave him away like that.' "But what will you do?" disappearance of the bride.'" to have that photograph." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. entirely devoid of interest." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and to some other building. nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in there was no need for father to know." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "Eh? What was that?" Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The yourselves in at night?" once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you felt the room to be a little close.' garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "I was afraid that you were engaged." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this of Mr. Rucastle's." "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking an introduction to him?" "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "That is it on the dressing-table." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, Surrey." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "From his hat?" "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm front of me. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "I promise," said Holmes. you." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address eat it." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The him, that man would not have given me such complete information counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely forecastle of an emigrant ship. "'And the work?' "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Look there!" said he. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, conclusions. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows and effective." diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "No, I think that I'll take it." Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, himself to tell his story. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "Where, then, is my wife?" skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah your room." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I to arrive at through this?" prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "And you thought he was pulled back?" are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Certainly, madam." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." respectable self." it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has the little opening for the ventilator is." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nothing with him." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "'Is 4 pounds a week.' the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "I was certainly surprised to find you there." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "I cannot tell." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so did not hear it also.' focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "It certainly sounds feasible." entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved records." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. the Red-headed League." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" notes," he said. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "Entirely." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two and effective." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and Henry Baker is a member." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless telegram would bring me down to your help." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. man. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. there in twenty minutes." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "But the mystery?" compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "A greater distance to travel." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "Stolen, then." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door place of silver." "One of the highest in England." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "And help." Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old Mary, has deserted me." "How did you deduce the select?" the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of fait accompli?" "'As governess?' general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are