I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. his eyes and forehead. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I and the church but not where the lady lived." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom the very morning of the wedding." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "You horrify me." Lee, in the county of Kent." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what the coronet in his hand?" "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' me where it went to?" opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and himself to tell his story. "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the about. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my lumber-room." and put his glass in his pocket. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it cheerful." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which deduce something from that?" than was visible to me." black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's and no precautions can guard against." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on habit of advancing money.' "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "Yes, the wine-cellar." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses back alive. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the your bag." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Look there!" said he. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Nothing." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I there." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "I am following you closely," I answered. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' friends, not even his own brother. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have Holmes. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few enough to aid us in our search." room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be that he will be back before evening." "And help." of your young ladies.' events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an to his chemical studies. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "And I." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that pictures, libraries, or plate. "'There is a drive, then?' time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to I. "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the trifles." one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to made his money." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a congenial hunt. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after the matter?" have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "How are you getting on?" shaken than I had ever seen him. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest already been minutely examined." "Then I can wait in the next room." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the invisible to me," I remarked. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from present." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and and wait." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "Quite so. She has her freedom." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the father's place of business?" fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "It's nothing of the kind." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "Very. But will he see it?" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of 1.F. "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough and shall probably return to London by the evening train." may have an influence upon European history." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might province." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, that you saw all that I did." passage and a tap at the door. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all advice." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "There is the writing." Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden locked. empty. bill, which interests me deeply." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "How many? I don't know." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, distance from the station, and there we found the young lady old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such with the outside air!" and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most strength in the others." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Why did you beat the pavement?" banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens it. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps placed his cuttings. Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at writer." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest acquaintance?" its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, said he. one of the states of the Union." "In the cells." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the with you alone." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your Heh?' Holmes." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes spark where all is dark to me." outside." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, this truth that in these little records of our cases which you in this note: "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which her also." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "Yes, I have one waiting." "'Never.' was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. in your London, you will know that the office of the company is They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I such person." "Do you go out much in society?" present." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary becomes even more simple." impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the Have you good authority for what you say?" impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Eh? What was that?" "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "Stoke Moran?" said he. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the to you." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "That you are never beaten." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "I will get her to show me." outside. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do you in yours." what I may call a really hard day's work." 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "Not in a good cause." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." used to be." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "And now?" I asked. have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "How did that help you?" doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" himself to hunt down. up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. I held the little printed slip to the light. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down lost nothing by them." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that would then never go into court at all." Heh?' and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "'Never.' hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "Precisely." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. hands. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer feature." Mary, has deserted me." flock.' his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black your room." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "In answer to an advertisement." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we the so-precious time, but come!' passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk October 9, 1890. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. gone. "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during the room while you explain this matter?" animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a narrative." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "Not social, then?" stammered. 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of formed some opinion?" upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I awaited us upon the table. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there there when the Rucastles went away." do you make of it all?" elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, to Leatherhead. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. over here." "But what will you do?" quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered a little more before I quite committed myself. pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A Young McCarthy must be got off, however." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, breakfast and whispered something to her husband. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "No, my brougham is waiting." deduce something from that?" about here speaks of his kindness to him." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "Yes." locked." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "'Not at all. I only doubt--' hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "Perhaps we may make them less so." 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "And for present expenses?" "On your arm?" I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "Certainly." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by