While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, had picked up in the wood. "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" exactly what you advise." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost later, upon the night of May 2nd." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. murdered man." away into the river." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." get her out of the way." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "At what time?" fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going letters?" streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "But how did you gain them?" belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which rose-bushes. "My photograph." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "That you are never beaten." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "You saw the ventilator, too?" band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "You have a clue?" she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll disturbance in my wife." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "This photograph!" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "It was an hour's good drive." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story have accepted such a situation. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where kindly on the shoulder. chair. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "On Monday." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "By train from Waterloo." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that in this way: "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known in a friendly supper." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows carpenter." your most interesting statement." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless companion. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us that I can to serve you." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. will be renamed. ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "No. What a strange idea!" I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to Sutherland?" Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. to have that photograph." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed situation." appeared upon the scene." "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 photograph a cabinet?" statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' over with notes and figures. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "10th. John Swain cleared. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his lumber-room." "How many? I don't know." evidence," I remarked. and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still fact, we may call it conclusive." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." made his money." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' soul! here is her carriage at the door." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have secret." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the as the one I chose?' "Yes." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has directors have had misgivings upon the subject." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "'Never,' said I. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the present strange and interesting features that it is no easy three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "A call for help, you thought?" never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "We must sit without light. He would see it through the We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "How did he come?" money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Pray tell us what has happened to you." friend's singular character. it." one of them." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a heavy and sharp instrument." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want together. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "My dear Holmes!" "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "No legal papers or certificates?" foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I down. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "I see many objections to any such theory." some city in a dream. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the III. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an said he. my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and think, you have already met." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "No, I am descending." yards of it?' "Yes." to have that photograph." could not have written that. It is the German who is so destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the always that they were such commands as a lady might with "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his acquaintance?" telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day humiliation." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was you came in." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the redistribution. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "Proceed, then." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "I do." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was populous neighbourhood." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "We have tried and failed." anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the hour?' "My stepfather's business papers." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Absolutely none." tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was in the port of London." "You'll never persuade me to believe that." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for For additional contact information: out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on compunction about shooting them down." me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "It came here." way: "I know where it is." "To the police?" the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my my former friend and companion. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." situation." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "I cannot think." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "Yes, that is the Crown." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the chance at all." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. who was a member of your goose club." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high his fortune, and I went back to pa. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, the inner apartment." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "Perhaps I have." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when murdered man." "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, and have this put in the evening papers." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others whereabouts. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "And I to find an enemy." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good awkward doing business with an alias." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, said he. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. could gather together that I was able to avert another public defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." you?" hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE have got?" foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If hair?' I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "You think that he is dead?" "That sounds a little paradoxical." "What I expected to see." providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder I leave." see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies pictures, libraries, or plate. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free wedding?" sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two the Red-headed League." door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his just called myself is not exactly my own." as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down you give your casting vote to?" such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "'Not at all. I only doubt--' word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding plantation.' observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen daring than any effort of the imagination." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "There are none." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the which we had just quitted. "Then I do not see the point." high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "Yes." dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even fatally injured? desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by public press." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "My photograph." "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the fish-monger and a tide-waiter." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was 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 soul! here is her carriage at the door." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some an introduction to him?" the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an purpose of examination. "Absolutely?" address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any said he at last. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "'I have already given you my word.' transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "By no means." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to pressing in one house as in another. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "Then I shall certainly come." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his forbidden door. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in for and were ordered to this address. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black article?" "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the a few minutes he said that it would be all right. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining his face which made him a very different person to the round, "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Won't it ring?" and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud