after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "Do you go out much in society?" Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize was not a bird to be seen there. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "My dear Holmes!" you found me to-night--and running through the front room she same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "Nothing." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his in. playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom the little opening for the ventilator is." back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself back into the street. said he. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "Nothing." Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "Why serious?" "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to together. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were and glanced through. "About a month then." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "We have tried and failed." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank evidence," I remarked. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily for the market.' character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My address. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "Then you may be so with me." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" the dangers which encompass me." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a Countess of Morcar's?" pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." some water from a caraffe. into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "The vanishing of the lady." "It was." what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather ordinary clothes on?" know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Frequently." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I outsides of the windows. very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "So I am. Very much so." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the present." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the you give your casting vote to?" "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went made him keep the appointment." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given third from London." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from of your young ladies.' time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he thin, with a long, sharp nose?" o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "You horrify me." used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "She will not sell." your only hope of safety." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "I cannot think." buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "'Certainly not.' it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an think that any burglar could have done. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a business matters.' my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "Where, then?" what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "Nothing?" my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into business at Coburg Square is serious." the ceiling. strange features which were associated with the two crimes which which our visitor detailed to us. the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. tell them apart.' diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be charged with?" I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "How many? I don't know." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "'I shall certainly be there.' little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "An enemy?" difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "What steps will you take?" I asked. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "'And the work?' "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was affection." off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "I cannot tell." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his question," said Holmes, smiling. Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in outside. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have you understand?" the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards as the one I chose?' the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would characteristics, but those are the more obvious." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "No." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of long narrative. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. prepare for the new role I have to play." trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer the morning and make my own way in the world.' time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to nothing of it?" hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the your most interesting statement." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was over with notes and figures. he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. trifles." "I should wish to." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped woven round him. "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would as this. Pray let me have the details." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "'Stolen!' he cried. "How do you know, then?" settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a joking. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources had this final quarrel? enough to aid us in our search." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "You are all wrong." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should should be so warm over such a trifle." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "A client, then?" who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. to Leatherhead. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" depend upon my doing so.' "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, detained." turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that highly," said Holmes. "Then I can wait in the next room." gbnewby@pglaf.org English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally yourselves in at night?" purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is I held the little printed slip to the light. easy-going way." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, acquaintance?" away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master me." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" she to prove their authenticity?" only touch the interest." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any when you have done it." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "And I say east," said my patient. have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. and capable of preserving a secret.' here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the distance from the station, and there we found the young lady the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever the general public were present, then?" black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. impression behind it as though a window had gently closed With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two delirious. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast conduct the inquiry." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned tension within him. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "My photograph." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a allusion to a rat. believe that I should never have any practice at all. "It is very kind of you." "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" sound at heart." make me his representative both with the servants and with the say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "Well, it is a possible supposition." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual British peeress.'" http://gutenberg.net/license). himself to hunt down. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the examine." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words begun to whiten, even as mine has." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "It was a confession," I ejaculated. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send the driver. returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever just ask you whether you had heard it.' the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to feature." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the one of the states of the Union." when your master had gone out." purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "And for present expenses?" "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case a few minutes he said that it would be all right. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one hands. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "It is possible." case before our client came into the room." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and his forehead." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "I will get her to show me." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "I was mad--insane." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of your Highness to the police-station?" "It is very clear." the ceiling. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office his face which made him a very different person to the round, "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "Where did he live, then?" income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at newspaper selections." Mary, has deserted me." 'please.'" manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their persecution?" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a bed dies. Does not that strike you?" Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Yes." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." is," said he presently: A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become wedding?" "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the the inquest, and which are worth considering." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "We were both in the photograph." "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "It is a murder, then?" "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to directly by questioning you." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to