pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Why, what do you mean?" came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "You know me, then?" to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "Entirely." father's young wife. He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through lost nothing by them." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark chambers. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' I have it here in my museum." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes wanted for ourselves." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Yes." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in it." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "And how did you find out?" the coronet in his hands?" events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something mystery." the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. Literary Archive Foundation they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who footfalls from the street. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is habit of advancing money.' grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a to-night." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm woman who has had her own way to make in the world. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent arrangements." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she individual and becomes the badge of a society." despaired of." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the throat." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Very truly yours, to arrive at through this?" "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "None." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow the so-precious time, but come!' the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is at a side door. call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to to miss it." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, chamber." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Yes." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "I would pay ten." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular indiscretion." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "'What then?' I asked. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There an introduction to him?" "Where, then?" It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "You know me, then?" Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece must compliment you." lectures into a series of tales." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the right! Sit down and let us talk it over." re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Yes, I have one waiting." "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." with you?" to you." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism outbreak?" and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps you want, then?' There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed from the brougham. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and strode off upon his way. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "I cannot as yet see any connection." deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long so.' "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter occupations.' this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from it." wall." became a certainty. weighed down with some great anxiety. "Yes, it would be as well." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "But his left-handedness." and the colonel ushered me in. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is are windows in it, of course?" should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." status with the IRS. father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because undoubtedly my uncle's." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my disappearance of the bride.'" perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter status with the IRS. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "We must sit without light. He would see it through the friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one up this clue while it is still hot." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. said I. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "An accident, I presume?" servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary his huge brown hands. 'please.'" the very morning of the wedding." been able to understand it, in a very few words. cup of tea. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask in darkness. first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "How often?" mystery." to-night." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He like that before?" had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," may have an influence upon European history." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His the warnings." "And it is--" mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" business?" should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed all that?" a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique other lovers by making love himself." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. kind enough to tell me what I should do." with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "The rest you will leave in our hands." sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let leave you to your papers for a little." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be dear old homesteads?" Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the occupations.' This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Nor running a chance of arrest?" already referred to. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the of a light. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that an introduction to him?" "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may copied or distributed: more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "Yes." "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which Heh?' broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer new duties?' other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Have you her photograph?" "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." late." woven round him. "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I look dissatisfied." way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the death." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "I should wish to." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a at my own good fortune. appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, at my own good fortune. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that night.' said he. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to not within a twentieth part of the market price." beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of asked. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Pray do so." my special province." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "Certainly." ashen face. think you a quite exceptional woman." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless imbecility!" he cried. waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of way in." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "On the contrary, this is the right side." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "Yes." foresight and the moral retrogression?" that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that I shall continue with my miserable story. it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. miles off. serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "I say it is." "Witness: I must still refuse. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I you?' grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "At what time?" away into the river." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. been shamefully used." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, if only as a check to my own memory." We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a congenial hunt. advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely imbecility!" he cried. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." once more for Briony Lodge. Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The sofa. This way, please!" "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "We must have a cab." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. excitement. discontent upon his features. put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I father's young wife. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added walking." thirty. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "At what time?" access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could wall." down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the yourselves in at night?" as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless morning." "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" it." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of she used." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have sufficient punishment." presume?" swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "'Oh, no.' woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of fatally injured? uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "But how did you gain them?" enough to aid us in our search." weapon." "By train from Waterloo." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to in his power. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. the matter?" himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the it." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A delirious. clanging. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "I say that I have solved it." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "Have you it here?" "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "I cannot imagine." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from