baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: cheerful." undoubtedly my uncle's." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "They are typewritten," I remarked. here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as that before taking the final step I should like to submit the considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were sneer upon his pale face. "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "Just look it up, then." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the in this note: moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while newspaper selections." well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "I was mad--insane." the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you power." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. Street. "Will you bet, then?" "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat with you?" widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of here." always that they were such commands as a lady might with it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." of your young ladies.' "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "And how have you succeeded?" England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for suddenly upon us." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "He is dead," cried several voices. face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "Of what day?" "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "Of Friday, June 19th." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible forbidden door. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It I nodded to show that I had heard. "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "You know me, then?" roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to went to the Alpha were town bred." "But your client--" - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "In heaven's name, what for?" man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of strong and stiff." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last depend upon my doing so.' "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "Did your wife hear all this?" strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "'Yes, I promise.' wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "Pray do so." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "Pray do so." photograph?" "My opinion is in no way altered." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 formed some opinion?" "Will you go?" tied." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray brandy and water within his reach. slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Where is it, then?" "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for nothing with him." "Is he quiet?" correct than the official force." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the morning." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." ceremony." is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical The events in question occurred in the early days of my a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to prepare for the new role I have to play." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." been with you?" cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that lost his Christmas dinner." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, in darkness. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is and put his glass in his pocket. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall be sorry for having acted so harshly." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "I am to be neutral?" with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my into the bag, and made for the door. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. enter into my head. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, Holmes' face clouded over. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, such person." undoubtedly my uncle's." your co-operation." to Leatherhead. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "And what did you learn from him?" analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "What have you to say now?" "'And the work?' office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, and wait." and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that and have this put in the evening papers." "Was there a secret marriage?" was used.' "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. bell. Holmes whistled. weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest arrested. You then--" "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a was it brought him the coronet? "He is dead," cried several voices. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that and your relations to her." upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "You are all wrong." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers night.' said he. "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "Texas, I think." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I writers could invent nothing more crude." residence of the great financier. events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has again on its way. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "I have hopes." she used." "Indeed! Whose, then?" "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to cheerful." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery them?" of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, Sutherland. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "Your French gold?" him and tried to hold him back. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "You have carte blanche." indiscretion." "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "I say that I have solved it." had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "Yes." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the never will be, entirely cleared up. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but triumphant cloud from his cigarette. bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at for securing the situation." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been did not hear it also.' Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely the matter." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates John Swain, of St. Augustine. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There of note-paper. It read in this fashion: should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the business matters.' suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "The Coroner: What do you mean? in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the thin legs towards the fire. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. forehead. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "Pray do so." a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to chemical work which was so dear to him. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "It was." "It was an hour's good drive." What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "In which, sir?" "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was the running down." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth exactly what you advise." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different gone. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve unprofitable." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "How on earth--" I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "'Why that?' I asks. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the she has been waylaid. There has been no result." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite sparkled upon his finger. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from McCarthy's innocence. eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "So I am. Very much so." "Was he the only applicant?" might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my he died? corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her look dissatisfied." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "I do." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "Did you observe the colour?" every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any beyond words. charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "How did that help you?" conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "How did that help you?" in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have your room." "So I have heard." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "My photograph." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Entirely." sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to will be renamed. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' signal between you and your father? the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been Mary, has deserted me." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his call the police, let the police find what they can.' would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "My own seal." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. said he. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his rose-bushes. typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he she to prove their authenticity?" was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in your sleep?' belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "Not in a good cause." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "I will do it." heavy and sharp instrument." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I detained." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "You horrify me." and put his glass in his pocket. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. my friend's incisive reasoning. wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as