explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "She will not sell." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am his eyes and forehead. think that he is innocent?" fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" get her out of the way." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not in a friendly supper." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could prisoner's face. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been tear off another piece?' would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his tension within him. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On into her hand at the door and which lured her within their done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my will he say when he returns?" any little problem which you may submit to me." outside. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon society." furiously. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the some city in a dream. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I see me here to avoid scandal." will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur useful material for showing traces. The double line a little out." Clair, of Lee." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a presented more singular features than that which was associated or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project forehead. "No." "You did not overhear what they said?" quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching in his hands." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "It is half-past ten now." found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do detective. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what to surprise her." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "When did it break out?" standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Yes, it would be as well." Miss Holder?" of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Very. But will he see it?" "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I hereditary King of Bohemia." Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up with you?" which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered learned something! Where are the gems?" son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford singular points about the case. What did the police think of the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "It is possible." or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "How did that help you?" delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." papers must be those that are destroyed.' walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "We were both in the photograph." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That him nearly every evening." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "I fear not." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "I have come for advice." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from depend upon your compliance." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door and have this put in the evening papers." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not Holmes' thin, eager face. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "Yes, from Horsham." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to fluttered off among the others. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from followed. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the some place of shelter and let the county police know what has if she died from some sudden fright." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door cigars in the box." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "'Entirely.' my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "He is dead," cried several voices. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. enter Dr. Roylott's room." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been correct than the official force." "My dear Holmes!" thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the Henry Baker is a member." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "I was sure that I might rely on you." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who any." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned Street. "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and a monotonous occupation." "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "Eh? What was that?" time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. of Mr. Rucastle's." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Yes, it would be as well." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his learned something! Where are the gems?" had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "Where did you address your letters, then?" "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" that I am arrested." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. them?" the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely to surprise her." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "'No, I know no one in these parts.' didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't the Assizes." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I felt?" For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "There is the writing." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ all that?" test if we have an answer to our advertisement." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His ran thus: see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and recall any case within my experience which looked at the first really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a it? Did I buy the geese off you?" glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises been shamefully used." "But your client--" I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in McCarthy's innocence. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded not within a twentieth part of the market price." stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Always." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "'Then let me do so?' you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some address. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "Was he the only applicant?" father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "'I am sure that I do not know.' "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, bled considerably." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions character. mystery may be cleared along those lines." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his woman." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case back to my heart. burst out into a roar of laughter. instincts rose up against that laugh. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Doctor, of the paper and the date." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, examine." sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never knowledge of the world." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular eat it." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the yet." really the only notable feature about the thing." with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "Why? What do you mean?" active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at gentleman's clothes. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "He said that you could solve anything." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "My opinion is in no way altered." who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "That you are never beaten." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, public press." "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "One of his hands." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little go from here to the Strand." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "And now?" I asked. article?" broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to passage and a tap at the door. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "But what is it you wish?" night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I wall." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "What!" he roared. considering the formidable letters which were received by himself such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "How did you trace it, then?" should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." might have a private word with us. about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first sparkled upon his finger. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "I do." friends, not even his own brother. "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and where she found matters as described by the last witness. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, be there in time for your coming."