could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and to-morrow." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Not yet." hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. in a friendly supper." wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial ready to-morrow?' "What do you make of that, Watson?" memory. chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. bearing upon the case." thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification over with notes and figures. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat have I gained?" "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." out." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It to talk it over. hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "But how did you gain them?" offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "It must be recovered." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "None." "Precisely." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "And that is--" papers on the sundial.'" gone. "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "Why serious?" Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid good for you to do.' "An enemy?" sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "What do you make of that, Watson?" "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that been able to understand it, in a very few words. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort business?" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his south, for the country is more deserted there." "'I have heard so.' you?' assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his views." not as remarkable as your advertisement." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was prove to be little relation between the different incidents of had no one to advise her at such a crisis." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "A call for help, you thought?" then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the nonsense.' and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "My dear Holmes!" Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias existence." "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside been shamefully used." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and garden below. "You saw the ventilator, too?" The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "'And what salary do you ask?' "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my me where it went to?" "Witness: It was. dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "My dear Holmes!" A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as and all of them with the keenest interest. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "'What are you doing there?' he asked. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "What is it?" tied." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to with some details as to your case." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the it were putty." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "Absolutely none." closely." I nodded again. himself. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "What are they?" "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "I say it is." immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "I will try. What is it?" brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after served to weaken the effect. fait accompli?" on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in for its centre. time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had his wife has ceased to love him." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent floor. transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. any little problem which you may submit to me." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have in your London, you will know that the office of the company is work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." your billet.' right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual shadow pass over his face as I spoke. not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped least a fellow-countryman. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I fluttered off among the others. there!' memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" point our research must commence, and we will begin it by individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Yes, it was twisted." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow this unhappy family?" you found me to-night--and running through the front room she ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. which are rolled in Rotterdam." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the without success. At last the little money which I had saved began the coronet in his hand?" "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "Very much so." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. developed." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "Well." "But how?" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else lamp in his hand. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. the devil!" "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and here." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "And when will you call?" footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and call it cruel." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "Very murderous indeed." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "It is a murder, then?" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "Then I shall certainly come." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the comes from the middle window." "Certainly." the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "Not social, then?" urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. and it need not interfere very much with one's other My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about beyond words. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily his grey eyes. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when outsides of the windows. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found business came to an end." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what His smile broadened. the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this yourselves in at night?" down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a me where it went to?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and useful material for showing traces. The double line a little attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside the armchair which I pushed forward for him. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do gone. with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "Have you it here?" 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. where she found matters as described by the last witness. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards Gutenberg-tm License. little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Well, but China?" search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "I cannot say that I have." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "Is he quiet?" has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, this Miss Turner." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be depend upon my doing so.' "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "I was certainly surprised to find you there." has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "And did you observe any change in her then?" the King without delay." chance at all." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "May I see it?" way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's fait accompli?" right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly on in his house." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was You can understand that this register and diary may implicate nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "It was." that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back who was a member of your goose club." "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "Never to return." crime. evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "So I am. Very much so." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that charge against him will break down." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." your bag." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot the child." said I. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of Lee, in the county of Kent." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "Yes, sir." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and be. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and morning." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the visitors." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "Why did you beat the pavement?" enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "Yes, the wine-cellar." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He