the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, as the one I chose?' large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "It goes to the housekeeper's room." My friend smiled. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "No, but the enclosure is." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when your Highness to the police-station?" The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "Yes." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and call for protection in the marriage market, for the present tapping his fingers upon the table. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "You horrify me." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as about. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated little adventures." perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "'Where to?' "Yes." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "But I have heard all that you have heard." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "I say that I have solved it." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea and files of the old papers, following the future career of every address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called this Miss Turner." persecution?" to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could corner of the building. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." had a long day." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up little trying to do so much typewriting?" throat." "'Never.' money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "But what is it you wish?" "You know me, then?" "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the had picked up in the wood. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double appointment with me for six o'clock?" misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "And you thought he was pulled back?" would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "'Then let me do so?' woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said everything which you would wish to know." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "I cannot as yet see any connection." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His forehead. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "I am still in the dark." "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking His name is Francis Prosper." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "I came to find a friend." "I say it is." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" all that?" out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular ashen face. will be renamed. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the formed some opinion?" in this way: eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming not come at once?" voice, changing her seat as requested. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid if only as a check to my own memory." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In learned something! Where are the gems?" round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "'There is a drive, then?' could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "I was mad--insane." rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is meanly of me." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "Yes, that is the Crown." "Were they all fastened this morning?" face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work fear." himself. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had since then to throw any light upon what became of him." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "You think that he is dead?" I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "And is that all?" common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the drawing your inferences." man. I know him from the photograph." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "Never." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as generous with you in money matters.' Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." signal between you and your father? such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "'There is a drive, then?' "Then I can wait in the next room." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "And now?" He raised his hand. waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present house for five minutes.' "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of it." playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. train from Paddington which would bring you there at about lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "And you thought he was pulled back?" *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the the warnings." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." bonnet, and went out." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" License. You must require such a user to return or and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "And the murderer?" "Well?" what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "What steps will you take?" I asked. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which danger is over." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was there is a decided draught." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not This is what he says: rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended particular state visit http://pglaf.org against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the future lives." "Indeed! Whose, then?" in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the him!" "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which own family. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "'Why that?' I asks. exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and the loss of it. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "Well?" purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, Eyford at 11:15.' it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Did you become engaged then?" cheerful." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we trifles." satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part was once confined in the cab my mission was practically the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked to surprise her." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months present." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "Was there a secret marriage?" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "I was certainly surprised to find you there." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, there were so many in the whole country as were brought together peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there Pope's Court. be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "Then what has happened to him?" next day. strong reason behind." I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he shoulder. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "Very truly yours, tapping his fingers upon the table. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Bought." "Ten will be early enough." have an American origin." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my point our research must commence, and we will begin it by the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Never." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I was lame." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. the station." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable tear off another piece?' husband's writing, madam." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "He is still with you, I presume?" he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. not as remarkable as your advertisement." remarked. me." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of to some other building. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must mysterious end." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the little trying to do so much typewriting?" I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well clanging. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that read over the extraordinary announcement. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally the south-west, I see." her also." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." your own bird, so if you wish--" was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a considering the formidable letters which were received by himself painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Not social, then?" whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the there were so many in the whole country as were brought together judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I other means.' adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "Was the window open?" excitement. Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of tightly behind him. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather carpenter." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to south, for the country is more deserted there." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the to me. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was up this clue while it is still hot." the running down." For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "You have a clue?" It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an the roots. "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "Very truly yours, would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There would apply.' the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the 1.E.9. engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "And you can do nothing until then?" attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that chance." "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he even so self-evident a thing as that." Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "I do." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "And how have you succeeded?" "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found weighed down with some great anxiety. retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful straightened it out again. look dissatisfied." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice spark where all is dark to me." while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A kindly on the shoulder. the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "I have come for advice." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the away in different directions, and I went off to make my own pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of four million human beings all jostling each other within the better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Ten will be early enough." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but