security.' ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his directly by questioning you." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I coat-tails." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "Breckinridge is his name." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was remarked. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "'I am sure if I had known--' desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." Mary, has deserted me." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general them?" without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "No, my brougham is waiting." ready to-morrow?' devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she may never be exposed to such a temptation." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "No, I am descending." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I head. So long, then!" down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have there in twenty minutes." bonnet, and went out." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who Again Holmes raved in the air. "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Yes, sir." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I window when the police appeared." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing the Assizes." laugh and put his lips to my ear. man. I know him from the photograph." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the emerged. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to it. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "How do you know, then?" high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "An accident, I presume?" can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "I say it is." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and as he folded up the epistle. plantation.' "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "You are all wrong." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. in the dead of the night?' "Stolen." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "In what way?" asked Holmes. "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have had no one to advise her at such a crisis." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him would then never go into court at all." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "Pray do so." I nodded to show that I had heard. "Texas, I think." "Yes, only one." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "Yes." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said upon the sideboard." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I paper in the air. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing appointment with me for six o'clock?" ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being and have this put in the evening papers." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' shoulder; "he's all right." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster in darkness. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for 1.E.9. read over the extraordinary announcement. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us o'clock is it?" fact, we may call it conclusive." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from the loss of it. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been matter." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the girl said." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Did your wife hear all this?" comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "Imitated." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "I was sure that I might rely on you." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That correct than the official force." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had and that he would see to anything that turned up. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he friend's singular character. and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "The best possible." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you salesman. Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid Sutherland. "Certainly." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, read over the extraordinary announcement. "The landlord of the Alpha." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss flock.' possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of allusion to a rat. "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of second." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, beg that you will break it off." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the Holmes' room. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out true." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "How about poison?" set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "ARAT," I read. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we populous neighbourhood." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely will be renamed. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, about here speaks of his kindness to him." and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In row." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he characteristics, but those are the more obvious." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of miles off. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house has little to do with my story." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean works. See paragraph 1.E below. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm conclusions. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "And leave your case unfinished?" "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of fishes. theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "My opinion is in no way altered." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "But what harm can there be in that?" than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and advice." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since asked with his eyes open. warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. know that the truth is known." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California to tackle the facts." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is said he, "my real name is James Ryder." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "What can you not understand?" "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "At half-wages, in fact." his huge brown hands. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his where we are going." mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "So I am. Very much so." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "Eh? What was that?" that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I must be when I saw the door open.' the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of infinite languor in his face. figure." "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "My stepfather's business papers." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some is entirely a question of barometric pressure." he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent the child." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible there is a decided draught." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" name is different." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "No, I had a dozen." and all of them with the keenest interest. and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the might help us?" twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour details." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a could not have written that. It is the German who is so Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. when your master had gone out." thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "At half-wages, in fact." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in been deceived." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to villagers almost as much as their master. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner You want to know what became of those geese?" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the business?" which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was the station." "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his o'clock is it?" The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "And why?" corner of the building. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I his eyes and forehead. room. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "Precisely." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "'And what salary do you ask?' "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "I say that I have solved it." one else, I think." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." our word." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" have I gained?" the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice Miss Holder?" "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me head. So long, then!" murdered man." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole Farm upon the left." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "Never." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. night.' said he. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "The best possible." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' Again Holmes raved in the air. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "Yes." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was in the hope of finding them." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "No." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to said he. all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we