"Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "And the cigar-holder?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily may never be exposed to such a temptation." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole Miss Holder?" twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "'As governess?' "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "But we can't all be." interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Well, some hundreds of times." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I was it brought him the coronet? Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "No good news?" "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We means taking possession of that which another person has a prior coat-tails." enter Dr. Roylott's room." "I beg pardon." look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's strength." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "When did she vanish, then?" gone. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "I know where it is." "Is he quiet?" pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "But how could you guess what the motive was?" professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "I have seen the police." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in outsides of the windows. papers." married her." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "Yes." was feeling which was the fattest.' in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was this man was intellectual?" "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding writers could invent nothing more crude." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is closely." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "No sign of it?" it." "By train from Waterloo." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "No, my brougham is waiting." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "Murdered?" goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "'Which dealer's?' "You have a clue?" pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Never to return." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing Street. to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "'Yes.' "How did you deduce the select?" very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold girl said." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "Ah, but I was recommended to you." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "And how did you find out?" little adventures." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "Where did he live, then?" case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. bare slabs of marble. orange pips. paper in the air. one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Nothing." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall dead, shall be safe with us." not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "That sounds a little paradoxical." on in his house." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be towards the blaze. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "And what then?" prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to the ceiling. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the sufficient punishment." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "I guessed as much." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the status with the IRS. "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have straightened it out again. "Then the page we have seen--" face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own them?" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of intrusion of other matters." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. with you?" houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business to-night." truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "Now, then, what's the last entry?" we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly in the port of London." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the later, upon the night of May 2nd." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. the coroner come to?" refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to brain must have something in it." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by with the outside air!" are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, system of imprisonment?" his huge brown hands. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to correct than the official force." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "What is it, then--a fire?" and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' been anything against him. He had for years been known as a went to the Alpha were town bred." "But how will you look?" young Openshaw's." placed his cuttings. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am to arrive at through this?" the stones. edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the strode off upon his way. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "The Cedars?" prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "And why?" insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The electronic works "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "That was it, sir." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to could go. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "He slept on the premises." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been right! Sit down and let us talk it over." it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "I was certainly surprised to find you there." carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "She told me to ask you." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull Serpentine Avenue. all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with seven miles from Eyford Station.' framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little what I may call a really hard day's work." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "But he might be a bachelor." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and Cross for the Continent." fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "How do you know, then?" of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H public press." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless conduct the inquiry." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he to affect your life." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "Look there!" said he. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and question," said Holmes, smiling. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "It certainly sounds feasible." vault. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "Won't it ring?" "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to London for the present?" "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police face and glided from the room. do.' rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with must be when I saw the door open.' that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell way in." impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way important." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of the address that was given us in the advertisement. "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my not come at once?" pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "'It is locked up,' I answered. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Foundation nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with neither fascinating nor artistic." voice. some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of and effective." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's pound a week." left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. never came back." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "And how in the world did you find them?" "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "I have solved it." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "'What would be the hours?' I asked. He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "But how?" bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it see a sister of mine apply for." active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "What then?" 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly the date of his supposed suicide." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the as noiselessly as she had come. the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "I see no marks." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." recover the gem." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." seen the man in the road." serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." Pope's Court. are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have definite end. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "I have solved it." to-night?" I asked. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of floor. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "By no means." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I chair. as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton and all of them with the keenest interest. more solid." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "At half-wages, in fact." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate have not had my rubber." never will be, entirely cleared up. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who the morning and make my own way in the world.' produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only photograph?" side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "'It is locked up,' I answered. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "The rest you will leave in our hands." "What shall I do?" of them has the shutters up.' alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said,