was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each business?" has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a woman." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon introspective fashion. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all overpowering excitement and concern. and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "I shall be delighted." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "BALLARAT." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Did your wife hear all this?" turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, in one or two places in England?' me, and I could not think that his explanation of the Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "None." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "You horrify me." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "And the cigar-holder?" "That is not always so easy." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "This photograph!" Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "And what then?" chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project never to learn it at all." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at to surprise her." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle when your master had gone out." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened this remarkable episode. are, I think, all that we need." had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Yes, from Horsham." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured side. off." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "You think so, too?" Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that mystery!" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." fled together." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the our word." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and was once confined in the cab my mission was practically focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet there has been an enclosure here!" more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is became a certainty. there was no need for father to know." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "And sit in the dark?" quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are good-night and bustled off upon her way. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, 'I should be able to look after that for you.' insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that trying to your nerves." to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and upon the sideboard." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was the salesman. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "'And what are they worth?' I asked. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." down. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive for securing the situation." vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. weighed down with some great anxiety. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from the King without delay." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as his fortune, and I went back to pa. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I furiously. miles off. without success. At last the little money which I had saved began License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside to tackle the facts." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." new duties?' Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its again before evening." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' should be taken.' the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a helping a boy to put up the shutters. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that forbidden door. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "I have solved it." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. purpose of examination. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office round with crates and massive boxes. tightly behind him. my friend's incisive reasoning. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "What?" was not a bird to be seen there. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that Again Holmes raved in the air. miles off. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "My stepfather's business papers." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." few hundred pounds.' some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of out." Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which her also." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air papers." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the mysterious business." photograph a cabinet?" these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, indeed which he could not unravel. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Yes, certainly." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of bird I ate is country bred." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and this unhappy family?" goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the stalked out of the room. "Yes." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at case-book, which he consulted. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "So I heard. You have him here?" was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." cigars in their mouths. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, introspective fashion. day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Then, how do you know?" during which he might have communicated with his friend the "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of to miss it." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you I took the paper from him and read as follows: to that open window." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the few hundred pounds.' business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of business came to an end." lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a detective. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the think, you have already met." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE closely." "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. remarked. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "Yes." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "I have a cab outside." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was man. I know him from the photograph." "Precisely so. But how--" certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "'Where could I find him?' would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "No. What a strange idea!" "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "10th. John Swain cleared. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my was already answered. hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg which was all perfectly true. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "This concluded the examination of the witness." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the hour?' him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" words came to my lips. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "What office?" so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property footfalls from the street. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "VIOLET HUNTER." "Yes. He waved his hands." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger of it with the greatest attention. your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "But the mystery?" "Pray let us have it, for all that." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with shaken than I had ever seen him. Have you good authority for what you say?" more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "You are all wrong." drove away. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, never came back." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head call the police, let the police find what they can.' Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "But she will refuse." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "'Yes.' know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." I have it here in my museum." "Then I am your man." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Yes, he did." way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "We must have a cab." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "I am to be neutral?" "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice dates and names. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "Where, then, is my wife?" nonsense.' saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." yards of it?' my special province." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and Edgeware Road. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Precisely so. But how--" from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. me. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Where to?" than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my shoulder; "he's all right." tear off another piece?' results." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that there were so many in the whole country as were brought together I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "Have you it here?" interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "Then what has happened to him?" "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of true." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor my special province." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time business?" charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." which our visitor detailed to us. companion quietly. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "One of his hands." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, prison!" "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "'Where to?' at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything I nodded again. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "One of his hands." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of the armchair which I pushed forward for him. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and Does that suggest anything?"