"'In my own bureau.' bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." the bottom.' having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. unprecedented a position." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way official police." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, have not had my rubber." ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were what do you think they found in the pockets?" looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, go back?" "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "A greater distance to travel." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by problems help me to do so." way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled to surprise her." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "By train from Waterloo." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just served to weaken the effect. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was nonsense.' marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on where she found matters as described by the last witness. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. not as remarkable as your advertisement." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending was feeling which was the fattest.' accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method you understand?" scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the telegram would bring me down to your help." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something useful material for showing traces. The double line a little metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique once more on the important position which you have been fortunate the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and had died away into the silence from which it rose. about. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "He is dead," cried several voices. until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they London for the present?" "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, remarked. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." me. it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers in his hands." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "'Most admirably.' waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" and inquire as to the address." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" during which he might have communicated with his friend the little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman which was all perfectly true. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not as he remarks, very much against the son." *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with interested in these little problems, and since you are good severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Do you know him?" were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or perplexity from it to my illustrious client. questionable one." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps was once confined in the cab my mission was practically spare." "Your presence might be invaluable." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall out of this horrible affair." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had rooms." "It was an hour's good drive." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 that you saw all that I did." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "I think that it is very probable." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, pierced for earrings?" large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I politicians who had been sent down from the North. while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by entirely lost his self-respect." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a have got?" it were putty." better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "But not more so than I to find you." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a train from Paddington which would bring you there at about come either from the window or the door. My attention was "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of 1.F. suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong photograph?" be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United I nodded to show that I had heard. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed bachelor.' his cane at the bell-pull. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "Then I do not see the point." "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect extraordinary contortions. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker than was visible to me." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been ready to-morrow?' "He disappeared so suddenly." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense about. reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but that, and I came down." business came to an end." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with The summons was a brief and urgent one. pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss joking. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is drawing your inferences." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a straighten it?" breakfast?" thirty. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "No, I think that I'll take it." flock.' conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted fasten all the windows?" the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. with some details as to your case." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "But what is it you wish?" he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to ventilator." back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' this truth that in these little records of our cases which you to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "Pray tell us what has happened to you." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "No, distinctly professional." "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "Pray be precise as to details," said he. thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in Where does the thing come from?' "Yes, only one." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we despair." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "'As governess?' "I was sure that I might rely on you." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own nice household for a young lady." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay morning." pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the children over to America with him, so that I found myself without which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Was he the only applicant?" "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper should be so warm over such a trifle." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "'I have already given you my word.' front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, writers could invent nothing more crude." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room your co-operation." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "No more words. Get out!" game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "I warn you that they are very incomplete." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three kindly on the shoulder. hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his the devil!" doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. shoulder. astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him I nodded to show that I had heard. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Whose house is it?" call the police, let the police find what they can.' Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. in. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "'And the work?' have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural returned to France?" "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" imbecility!" he cried. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "But I am all in the dark." then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, business." "But I have heard all that you have heard." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of his fortune, and I went back to pa. how narrow had been my escape. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "They are typewritten," I remarked. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his telegram would bring me down to your help." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up nonsense.' it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "So I am. Very much so." "But how did you gain them?" which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he shoulder. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in she might be summoned. where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. the ceiling. the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic prove to be little relation between the different incidents of endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen be. your Highness to the police-station?" "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "Nothing." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "None." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward problems help me to do so." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, was not a bird to be seen there. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal ourselves in the office." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked.