"Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the bill, which interests me deeply." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "So I am. Very much so." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they investigation." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running this unhappy family?" problems help me to do so." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress forbidden door. him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his It may be so in this case, also." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a Pope's Court. is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "No legal papers or certificates?" constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite the house with me." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "Imitated." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of when you have done it." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." late!' glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "You know me, then?" "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with me. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he vault. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the photograph?" with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was house for five minutes.' man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "'Certainly,' I answered. "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much Edgeware Road. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down to tackle the facts." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" held up the lantern and gazed about him. more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him window when the police appeared." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began business." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand beg that you will break it off." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "But your client--" "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had his grey eyes. "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his and wait." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "How are you getting on?" maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "It must be recovered." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set had formerly been in part my own. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "ARAT," I read. he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Then, as to money?" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, matter over." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the must be when I saw the door open.' "About a month then." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There call for protection in the marriage market, for the present and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off a little more before I quite committed myself. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Here?" as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "I will, Miss Turner." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry followed. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. room. details should find their way into the papers. Inspector guilty one." conduct the inquiry." but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of wedding?" recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Yesterday." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "'Is 4 pounds a week.' immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the call for it in person on Monday morning.' all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "One of the highest in England." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement criminal. We have already had experience of such." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds this poor creature." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. for and were ordered to this address. vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "'Ten to two.' address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" drawing your inferences." three fields round his house, and there he would take his There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer ill-usage at the hands of fortune. night.' said he. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "One?" these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during eat it." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence eat it." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the shag which I had seen upon the previous night. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. what do you think they found in the pockets?" country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "At what time?" lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation as he folded up the epistle. "Pray do so." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better seen the man in the road." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Then you may be so with me." his grey eyes. suddenly upon us." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party I approached. "His face fell immediately. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of done what I asked you, Jones?" opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story power." "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very opened a pocket-book and took out a note. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Your French gold?" "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot thin, with a long, sharp nose?" hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own such attractions and accomplishments?' We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Certainly." derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "The doctor?" assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the success. go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "I answered that I had not. any little problem which you may submit to me." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal may never be exposed to such a temptation." truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to who was a member of your goose club." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, look dissatisfied." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "I think it very unlikely." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "How did he come?" the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. disturbance in my wife." away into the river." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your out." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so have got?" "Deserted you?" the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I then?" extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have made his money." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your she to prove their authenticity?" "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a forecastle of an emigrant ship. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth fluttered off among the others. trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both States. been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "I assure you that I am in your hands." sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little upon the sideboard." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' cheerful." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "You horrify me!" your bag." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Oh, fresh and glossy." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to this man was intellectual?" The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "Witness: It was. and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with outsides of the windows. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." be best to do. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now at once, for I have only half an hour." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "'No, I know no one in these parts.' fashion which was peculiar to him. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "I think that it is very probable." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in remarked. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. hurried away. the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do locked. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, your Highness to the police-station?" begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "No, my brougham is waiting." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "But not more so than I to find you." about. "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left maid will bring up your coffee." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "What have you to say now?" "I am to be neutral?" but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, depend upon my doing so.' traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty thin legs towards the fire. "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" waste of energy." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, grasp, he hurried from the room. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "Oh, fresh and glossy." we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary very peculiar words of the dying woman?" was used.' but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the that threaten you." who was a member of your goose club." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last Sholtos." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "'I shall certainly be there.' Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy to have that photograph." finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so go--none." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest Eyford." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it true." the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your