"'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage with frightened eyes at his accuser. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Yes, sir." and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "And I say east," said my patient. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." stepfather?" after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to Chief Executive and Director thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "And for present expenses?" know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "It may not come to that," said Holmes. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled whereabouts. full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can hair?' "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have yourselves in at night?" blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed noting anything else of interest. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "I will get her to show me." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the stalked out of the room. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." nothing of it?" "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a matter." For additional contact information: entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. goes." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden that you wished to speak to me?' after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my in a very precise fashion." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, in darkness. age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "'In my own bureau.' and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, in one or two places in England?' baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "Your sister is dead, then?" in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long been deceived." it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "Was he the only applicant?" me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid should be so warm over such a trifle." bird of prey. given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Yes, it would be as well." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "Yes, only one." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the never to learn it at all." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "We were both in the photograph." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one noting anything else of interest. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of Again Holmes raved in the air. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "Why did you beat the pavement?" allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my sound at heart." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, important." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in examination of the premises, but without finding anything which his cane at the bell-pull. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "Indeed! Whose, then?" tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the lost nothing by them." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there as he folded up the epistle. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. important." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son room had already been engaged for us. take the flies, but not before." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, man. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind relation between them, and what the object of his repeated circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "Nothing?" at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of as yours." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the would apply.' "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man Mary, has deserted me." "What will you say?" I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our his face. when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told served to weaken the effect. him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR Miss Holder?" retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where as the one I chose?' "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly purpose of examination. "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a is a common subject for conversation. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and where Mr. Fordham shows you.' my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off outbreak?" "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. do.' "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "Do you know him?" him, that man would not have given me such complete information "And I to find an enemy." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become you for a few hours?" too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "Very much so." followed. There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and was it brought him the coronet? footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "'Yes, sir.' look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "Yes." finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "And what did you learn from him?" man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." friends, not even his own brother. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with there was no need for father to know." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I fat-encircled eyes. "'Never,' said I. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, danger is over." the loss of it. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he into the room. look dissatisfied." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "'You doubt its value?' he asked. to-night?" I asked. "Yes, only one." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the in my life." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Do you know him?" minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my done what I asked you, Jones?" "Was he the only applicant?" "I cannot as yet see any connection." the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "Did he not advertise?" understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "I fear not." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the closing the door. will be renamed. "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." legal crime." I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "'Yes, sir.' hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "It is very clear." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Who by?" been." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the golden eyeglasses. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife McCarthy." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "She showed me, as I told you she would." upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight delighted to hear it," he said. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who in darkness. relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the yards of it?' Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my as noiselessly as she had come. say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, http://www.gutenberg.net grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "Proceed, then." enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern think, you have already met." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may depend upon your compliance." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the and no precautions can guard against." and have this put in the evening papers." too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "Yes, I have one waiting." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There works. "I guessed as much." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious legal crime." father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. his eyes and forehead. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I seven miles from Eyford Station.' Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "'Yes, sir.' "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and hard-headed British jury." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local imbecility!" he cried. the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "And Miss Sutherland?" drove away. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders system of imprisonment?" say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of use an arc-and-compass breastpin." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may in the dead of the night?' conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of sentimental considerations in the background which would induce wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took happened." happened." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "No." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I breakfast." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously and files of the old papers, following the future career of every my room." my little problems." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "None." the side-table." "You have but to name it." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." me. "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a been deceived." "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the happened." "Holmes, the busybody!" ill-usage at the hands of fortune. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive other means.' which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second empty. "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it you." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to gigantic client. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for