for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a giving me time to thank him. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "Texas, I think." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of that I am arrested." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "Do you receive much company?" he asked. assist you in forming an opinion." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking at once, for I have only half an hour." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. them?" Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "And you can do nothing until then?" it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads Surrey." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, into the bag, and made for the door. a monotonous occupation." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H ashen face. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what Count Von Kramm." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no and the colonel ushered me in. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "Do you know him?" "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, call the police, let the police find what they can.' heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry least a most suspicious remark." outside. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that upon the white wrist. Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect see a sister of mine apply for." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "But not more so than I to find you." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have him to be an active member of the medical profession." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and the station." "Where is it, then?" "And how did you verify them?" part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were it." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "I think that it is very probable." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his my secret was safe in his possession. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of business." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is question you as to those details which seem to me to be most country, and eventually married, without anyone having a Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "Not yet." one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was later, upon the night of May 2nd." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You frequently gained my first real insight into the character of everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "I am all attention, madam." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he there." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said what I may call a really hard day's work." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" him!" the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "I have come for advice." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "We must have a cab." It was close upon four before the door opened, and a appeared upon the scene." "Yes. He waved his hands." what do you think they found in the pockets?" centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the politicians who had been sent down from the North. business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "Was he the only applicant?" delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. to miss it." Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a Street. one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our to go into your room and bar your shutters?" skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note presume?" incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "And you don't know his address?" "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you served to weaken the effect. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "But to whom?" Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of Holmes' face clouded over. very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The conversation I have gathered that they have been married about cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at back into the street. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will new duties?' this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face posted to-day." Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "'What then?' I asked. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his rat could hardly pass through." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "Only as much as we can deduce." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms manager. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the appeal." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "And now?" I asked. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "It is possible." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "Yes, only one." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "They are typewritten," I remarked. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, lips." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." despair." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your hand, madam?" daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which there in twenty minutes." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell touch that coronet?' the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on late." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "Nothing." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Yes, all." not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my village inn over there?" off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Yes, only one." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings happened." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask the devil!" object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "When did she vanish, then?" side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from shadow pass over his face as I spoke. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in detained." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's only touch the interest." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let empty. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "But what harm can there be in that?" course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me the child." and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "'Very good.' wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was said he, "my real name is James Ryder." his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated very old mansion. "None." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds gentleman's clothes. It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon down. meant it for the best. minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "No, but the enclosure is." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who once more to my work. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were the devil!" gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A matter over." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the lumber-room." smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "But how?" few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we it. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Where did he live, then?" so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. charged with?" Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding that I may have something better before very many minutes are "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "By no means." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "Very truly yours, Project Gutenberg-tm works. "What then?" the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "'I have already given you my word.' telegram would bring me down to your help." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "I say it is." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks flock.' "Yes." fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." if I call to-morrow?" far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who late." photograph?" The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in Foundation key of the affair now." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. the child." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Of Friday, June 19th." which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual since then to throw any light upon what became of him." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a has little to do with my story." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave business at Coburg Square is serious." the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at Eyford." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be to-night's adventure." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest fluttered off among the others. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a outside." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, compunction about shooting them down." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with to-morrow." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as to arrive at through this?" which we had just quitted. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm I nodded again. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 definite end. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in