during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you get the tickets." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I he. there in twenty minutes." do you make of it all?" "I cannot imagine." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was woven round him. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! question you as to those details which seem to me to be most inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the to-night?' eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did front of me. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered have accepted such a situation. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. which should have the effect of calling the attention of the indiscretion." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a evidence," I remarked. three of the beryls in it, was missing. "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "I am sure." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect opened a pocket-book and took out a note. that then?" slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what questioning and rather startled gaze. over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "The doctor?" o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "I guessed as much." however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being society." perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "He is still with you, I presume?" tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. been deceived." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to address. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "We have tried and failed." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose system of imprisonment?" one or two very singular points about this room. For example, that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the of campaign. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, to a light-house. corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "It is true that I have been generally successful." Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." on re-entering her father's house?" cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of all-comprehensive glances. ago." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well of." lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or IS "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and dear old homesteads?" Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "'Most admirably.' appointment with me for six o'clock?" you for a few hours?" fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "What do you make of that, Watson?" which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there were unconscious?" gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, foot. he. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace comes from the middle window." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line the child." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. and files of the old papers, following the future career of every the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All them?" slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "'Entirely.' comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. to affect your life." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the case-book, which he consulted. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter remarked. enter Dr. Roylott's room." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have up this clue while it is still hot." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of appeared upon the scene." lamp in his hand. "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your me where it went to?" knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine and capable of preserving a secret.' wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the one of the states of the Union." which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "What! a murderous attack?" leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "What shall I do?" and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "Tired-looking or fresh?" "Your French gold?" mysterious business." and all of them with the keenest interest. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside Cross for the Continent." "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "On your arm?" sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it recover the gem." he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "Can I be of assistance?" prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault throat." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Project Gutenberg-tm works. his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate maiden herself was most instructive." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not was the fact that his father should, according to his account, a room. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the them, and came down just as you departed. that he will be back before evening." "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some forecastle of an emigrant ship. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "And how did you find out?" desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Where did he live, then?" "We were both in the photograph." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." in the hope of finding them." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said so far?" him to be an active member of the medical profession." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King are, I think, all that we need." cheerful." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late Street. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of footfalls from the street. "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Certainly, madam." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "'Which dealer's?' and inquire as to the address." thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined fire. You quite follow me?" as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business into the room. smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered were wasted." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "If I can be of use." "Come in!" said he. of them has the shutters up.' "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "Very. But will he see it?" "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon shall not find me ungrateful." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Do you go out much in society?" in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Yes." "My private note-paper." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her fact, we may call it conclusive." in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael floor. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "So it appears." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "None." "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "To an end?" Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "That is unusual in a young girl." is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and footfalls from the street. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and pictures, libraries, or plate. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "Of Friday, June 19th." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the we went to search for him, face downward in a little "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his drove away. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before question you as to those details which seem to me to be most lips." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this something of him before." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought one of the states of the Union." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "I would pay ten." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had and that he would see to anything that turned up. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and woman." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in just called myself is not exactly my own." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And question. were wasted." "You are all wrong." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the with her." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no relief. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. note?" Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed a room. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I impression behind it as though a window had gently closed a very grave face. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "10th. John Swain cleared. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's congenial hunt. "On your arm?" "Yes, it was twisted." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "I promise," said Holmes. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless you in your example." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "A confidential servant?" already been minutely examined." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "I saw her in conversation with her maid." American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Imitated." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to directors have had misgivings upon the subject." lamp. would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the already been minutely examined." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a experiences." miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you to-night?' its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, foot. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle union?" "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend During two years I have had three consultations and one small "No, distinctly professional." dates and names. events than those which have happened in my own family." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa business." handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir."