With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage along the entire front of the house, with three long windows bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "You horrify me!" "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both said he, "my real name is James Ryder." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "Oh, yes, easily." interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. my friend's incisive reasoning. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather cigars in their mouths. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "What, then, did Peterson do?" http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my fatally injured? read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there prisoner's face. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he remarked. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Foundation "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" Sutherland?" have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before tear off another piece?' and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. my former friend and companion. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "I am about to be married." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes recall any case within my experience which looked at the first me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching lumber-room." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such it." justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a were new raised from a basin. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this said I. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own a monotonous occupation." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is my room." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "Yes." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "'I have already given you my word.' down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year Sutherland. and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I to surprise her." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "'A dozen yards or so.' buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "'Then let me do so?' "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "'Is purely nominal.' Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do overpowering excitement and concern. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked to me. upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, know what is wrong with it.' thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to purpose equally well?" hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, definite end. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "No. What a strange idea!" look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "There is the writing." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Quite so." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks front of me. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found kindly on the shoulder. "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "Your presence might be invaluable." "And on what day did he meet his death?" Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping happened." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had carriage. It was a chestnut." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from that there was nothing in it, after all." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may father's place of business?" "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "What then?" putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "How are you getting on?" of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my colour had been driven from his face. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "His face fell immediately. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if 1.E.9. dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black cup of tea. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "'What, the red-headed man?' though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which conceal it?" left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "My stepfather's business papers." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived door?" and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are of your young ladies.' effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were to talk it over. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, to-night?" I asked. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore will not take me long to tell. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "But what will you do?" "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was what I may call a really hard day's work." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. companion imperturbably. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "Certainly." my secret was safe in his possession. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was from the brougham. "Then I do not see the point." one which it was hard to resist. wall." "Then you may be so with me." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "I am all attention, madam." marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "'Yes, sir.' maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a only touch the interest." man. from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." colonel looking down at me. Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew colour had been driven from his face. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the ventilator." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you guilty one." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who London for the present?" chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Entirely." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "But what is it you wish?" crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "I am sure." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. was shining brightly. LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "'Yes, sir.' "What do you mean?" "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "On your arm?" she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, had picked up in the wood. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "'Yes, sir.' laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could triumphant cloud from his cigarette. confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put like gravel from a pit.' "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "In San Francisco, a year ago." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "I assure you that I am in your hands." 1.E.9. before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "But his left-handedness." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." will not take me long to tell. again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally lids now and glanced across at his visitor. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "'It is locked up,' I answered. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to wanted for ourselves." were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's which I could not give. He asked for Alice. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she begun to whiten, even as mine has." gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after meant." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have was a lad." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital cigars in their mouths. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like think, you have already met." child?' "But we can't all be." three fields round his house, and there he would take his American. Then who could this American be, and why should he that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall the so-precious time, but come!' he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the to change my dress. "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" stammered. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to Again Holmes raved in the air. stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from constraint." at my remark. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that derbies." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "I am still in the dark." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at his grey eyes. on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I or in danger--" shag which I had seen upon the previous night. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And business at Coburg Square is serious." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. The King stared at him in amazement. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and than to us. while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered the night.' "About a month then." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "What can you not understand?" examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and