chambers. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "Oh, fresh and glossy." "Won't it ring?" post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor wedding?" ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other with some details as to your case." already been minutely examined." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always and no precautions can guard against." that I may have something better before very many minutes are "'As governess?' "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a the window, rose as we entered. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. house for five minutes.' examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, dramatic, in fact." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "'I am sure that I do not know.' them present such singular features as the strange train of Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "Ample." "And on what day did he meet his death?" common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will me." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my enter Dr. Roylott's room." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "Precisely so. But how--" all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He guilty parties." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "Well?" battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "That's no good." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "Yes, only one." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have horse could go." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The strong and stiff." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found row." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with know that the truth is known." "'Quite sure, dad.' her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "'Oh, no.' I shall continue with my miserable story. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "My own seal." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of or other trace. But how on earth--" Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, the coronet in his hand?" houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. maid will bring up your coffee." This is what he says: gone before you can get him to hospital." "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "That is unusual in a young girl." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "And Miss Sutherland?" rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger respectable self." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was was once confined in the cab my mission was practically rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten is a common subject for conversation. at home. I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "What shall I do?" this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and impression behind it as though a window had gently closed freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived against a man in the prime of life?" again." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "Yes, they were peculiar boots." your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "'Never,' said I. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a cost them two and thirty pounds." once more. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Yes." lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "'And the work?' thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote in his hands." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and your equipment. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of speckled band?" - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet which was all perfectly true. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "No." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop gentleman's clothes. see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, the loss of it. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter important." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. ways including including checks, online payments and credit card over here." ordinary clothes on?" anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "'Certainly not. But why?' on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, to tell." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. we went to search for him, face downward in a little battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of been lifted and conveyed somewhere." down in his armchair and closing his eyes. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily not as remarkable as your advertisement." "Yes, he did." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an that you can jump it.' "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. which I could not give. He asked for Alice. Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. felt the room to be a little close.' companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "To an English lawyer named Norton." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy remarked. "We must have a cab." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "The best possible." morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Certainly." Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. of a light. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "Pray do so." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I there were one or two details which were new to me. But the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "Was the window open?" into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "They are typewritten," I remarked. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing Sutherland. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." over with notes and figures. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "Pray be precise as to details," said he. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't peculiar to him. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you instituted." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "Precisely." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. neither fascinating nor artistic." persecution?" "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon lids now and glanced across at his visitor. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "Has he come with you to-night?" compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, straighten it?" "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' started for the Temple to see my husband. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "It looks newer than the other things?" that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless ways including including checks, online payments and credit card you?" of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for throat." forecastle of an emigrant ship. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time light and attacked it." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you of receipt of the work. instincts rose up against that laugh. yet." that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon cause to be." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis so.' knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the there!' before, for it was considerably after midnight. and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose handed it to him. charge against him will break down." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the interests were the same as his." unprofitable." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" back into the street. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that From what you have told me I think that it is possible that may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Can I be of assistance?" Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "How often?" Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." placed his cuttings. "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Only as much as we can deduce." in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "Nor running a chance of arrest?" could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss electronic works Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" friends, not even his own brother. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "It's nothing of the kind." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." Stoke Moran." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "And why?" but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric the bottom.' and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "It came here." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in learned something! Where are the gems?" "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." Munro.' occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "The decline of his fortunes, then?" to affect your life." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "Was the window open?" august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then side. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an