down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two legal crime." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "Deserted you?" from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be strode off upon his way. DAMAGE. detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without Pope's Court. and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon go--none." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "'Most admirably.' My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are before the coroner and the police-court." the little opening for the ventilator is." "I have my revolver," said I. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He felt the room to be a little close.' public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention business." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "My dear Holmes!" present." "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet strong reason behind." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "Ah, but I was recommended to you." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well yards of it?' "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my served to weaken the effect. iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to acted in my house last night?" the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." locked. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many strength of mind to control. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted had no one to advise her at such a crisis." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. writers could invent nothing more crude." lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "This photograph!" hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. before, for it was considerably after midnight. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to astonishment. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one I leave." "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "'Yes, I promise.' business matters.' six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I said I. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove back alive. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate always that they were such commands as a lady might with should be taken.' Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "But it has twice been burgled." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an troubles have been weighing upon his mind. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "'What then?' I asked. Sutherland. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "But he might be a bachelor." back to my heart. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "So I heard. You have him here?" in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared my friend's incisive reasoning. his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. what these perils are?" Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was strength of mind to control. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she you?" "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the call for it in person on Monday morning.' he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "I am to be neutral?" accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine coat-tails." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "'Certainly not. But why?' impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Always." met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a straightened it out again. words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a criminal. We have already had experience of such." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Which surely he restored to their owner?" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the note?" the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his only touch the interest." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. soul! here is her carriage at the door." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with could not account in any way for the presence of the missing matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that not come at once?" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "I cannot imagine." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "But what will you do?" charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a head. So long, then!" drawing your inferences." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Precisely so. But how--" do." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The to-night's adventure." address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "Certainly." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a orange pips. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Not in a good cause." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some dead, shall be safe with us." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. within hail.' Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. the side-table." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from Gutenberg-tm License. upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him hands. "On the contrary, this is the right side." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "But you can know nothing of this?" Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses everything which you would wish to know." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of was a loud and authoritative tap. certainly not very gracious." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "In heaven's name, what for?" this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the James Windibank. Voilà tout!" as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "'Certainly,' I answered. yet." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were where we are going." "But it has twice been burgled." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. cause to be." forbidden door. "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies will find little credit to be gained out of this case." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "What are they?" bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal him." help us in this matter." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "Tired-looking or fresh?" "What steps will you take?" I asked. the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. I was concerned in it." October 9, 1890. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Not yet." "Yes, the wine-cellar." heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my too. "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "'It is locked up,' I answered. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "At the wedding breakfast." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Of what day?" most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up ventilator." Sholtos." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "Ample." you understand?" "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of there is a decided draught." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "And how have you succeeded?" only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Who was the criminal, then?" "That you are never beaten." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, both be extremely obliged.' may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." in darkness. "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." disappearance of these gems?" "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "I shall most certainly do so." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade of a light. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and envelope. "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." think you a quite exceptional woman." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of her also." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. read it out to me." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start it." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "VIOLET HUNTER." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "'Is purely nominal.' day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper said I. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" front of me. found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the to talk it over. and prosperity to your house. Good-night." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "And how have you succeeded?" "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make my former friend and companion. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt she used." in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." not personally threatened." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would your sleep?' way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "'And the work?' observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I gives a meaning to it."