"'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful matter." unkempt, staring out at me. retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful I think that I could be of assistance to you." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" it with his own hands." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. the dangers which encompass me." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be enough to aid us in our search." Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to she used." she used." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "You have the photograph?" passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Not in the least." thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us chance." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "His face fell immediately. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A laugh and put his lips to my ear. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the the coronet in his hands?" lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "I will, Miss Turner." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly my friend's incisive reasoning. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. system of imprisonment?" "What! Had he lost his wife?" were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "And from a noble client?" friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. back alive. bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." to a light-house. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old round and wave him away like that.' Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" face and glided from the room. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which The King stared at him in amazement. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' relief. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes outside." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of brandy and water within his reach. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "'You cannot say what it was?' There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "He might." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with since then to throw any light upon what became of him." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a and shall probably return to London by the evening train." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in or in danger--" all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she indeed which he could not unravel. has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have conceal it?" young Openshaw's." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must married her." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not public press." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not burst out into a roar of laughter. "And you thought he was pulled back?" that, and I came down." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, that I may have something better before very many minutes are find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed success. singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your and prosperity to your house. Good-night." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. as yours." ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "No more words. Get out!" my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of straighten it?" present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "No, I had a dozen." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "Yes." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned copied or distributed: few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him mysterious end." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. Stoke Moran." quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what highly," said Holmes. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "At half-wages, in fact." "Texas, I think." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Dr. Becher's." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a once more to my work. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia the warnings." keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. the coroner come to?" Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, his knees, staring into the fire. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "Where is it, then?" and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, II. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "Was she in good spirits?" "'And the work?' at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in down in his armchair and closing his eyes. greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander bachelor.' "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "Ample." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if The King stared at him in amazement. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of hard-headed British jury." we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "'Which dealer's?' as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much said Mr. Holder. the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt following enigmatical notices: "This photograph!" well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good of campaign. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and noise which awoke you from your sleep?" off." "And I say east," said my patient. vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Oh, the cause is excellent!" too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such questioning and rather startled gaze. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old married her." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting to change my dress. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an results." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "I am all attention, madam." and capable of preserving a secret.' "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "We must have a cab." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Not I." refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather where she found matters as described by the last witness. as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called correct than the official force." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden you." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking answered with a sidelong glance. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend not fit the lock." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "You horrify me!" "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "We have tried and failed." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in burst into a hearty fit of laughter. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "Your sister is dead, then?" garden below. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and forehead. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house pound a week." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "Quite so." "Yes, the wine-cellar." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by do.' photograph?" adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "Were they all fastened this morning?" spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "You have carte blanche." the matter." from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "'Oh, no.' "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the I held the little printed slip to the light. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and of this gang." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a been." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "Who by?" I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the the house with me." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl Pope's Court. feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "I am following you closely," I answered. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. in him." bare slabs of marble. walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they Where does the thing come from?' by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "My dear Holmes!" certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin to go into your room and bar your shutters?" appointment with me for six o'clock?" I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. appeared upon the scene." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very to surprise her." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the dramatic, in fact." it." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "Certainly." "Yes." "Could he throw no light?" voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, remarked. be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to trifles." to affect your life." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which been anything against him. He had for years been known as a their singular warning or token before them when starting upon his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. paper in the air. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "I shall most certainly do so." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "It must be recovered." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** happened." "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the His name is Francis Prosper." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his to surprise her." and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty take the flies, but not before." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "My dear Holmes!" - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their man. "And you thought he was pulled back?" clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a other means.' "'A dozen yards or so.' "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last,