reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside and wait." cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at never came back." but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "Quite so." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "It certainly sounds feasible." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I generous with you in money matters.' married her." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by affection." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I than was visible to me." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third 'please.'" home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by roused himself from his reverie. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "Nothing?" was feeling which was the fattest.' anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "And when will you call?" "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "'I have heard so.' you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "An enemy?" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "Holmes, the busybody!" Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the started for the Temple to see my husband. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked answered with a sidelong glance. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some sooner or later she must fall a victim. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "To an English lawyer named Norton." towards the blaze. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, such person." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "That is it on the dressing-table." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "Breckinridge is his name." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "No bad?" such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "That is easily got." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "How are you getting on?" three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' said he. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to hard-headed British jury." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was were wasted." Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my lumber-room." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "It missed him, then?" and looked back. "'What, the red-headed man?' this Miss Turner." were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Very well, sir. And this stone?" yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "No, my brougham is waiting." "And it is--" noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips people don't know." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Nothing?" parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "I answered that I had not. weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but disturbance in my wife." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, chamber." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over any more." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." and the colonel ushered me in. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this this remarkable episode. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me before, for it was considerably after midnight. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "But the mystery?" and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me paper in the air. fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "Well?" father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "But it has twice been burgled." of your young ladies.' introspective fashion. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before other means.' hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "But what is it you wish?" "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your union?" likely to be some crony of the landlady's." shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "No legal papers or certificates?" copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to congratulate you again." October 9, 1890. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "'What, the red-headed man?' which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were of receipt of the work. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that you give your casting vote to?" address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not against a man in the prime of life?" permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you whole matter to your consideration." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and him." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "She walked into the breakfast-room." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its call for it in person on Monday morning.' WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. before the coroner and the police-court." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone she used." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "What steps will you take?" I asked. in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "So it appears." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred not come at once?" will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "And your father? Did you tell him?" "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "'Yes, it was gone.' then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you a few minutes he said that it would be all right. upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "Upon what point?" or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Can I be of assistance?" it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I crackling voice. "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Pray continue your narrative." look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was next day. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your fat-encircled eyes. four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "Well?" drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my cost them two and thirty pounds." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into the tragedy. "I should wish to." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad note?" "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is skylight. "Could he throw no light?" what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully upon the white wrist. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." papers must be those that are destroyed.' "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He along the entire front of the house, with three long windows as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "And your mother is alive?" in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They respectable self." then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "Nothing." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Why did you pick him?" whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "The knees of his trousers." business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty roused himself from his reverie. offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most it right.' people in all walks of life. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And his knees, staring into the fire. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "But his lameness?" question you as to those details which seem to me to be most woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the one as in the other." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story at my own good fortune. characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. other, as fresh and trim as possible. police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The these bleak autumnal evenings." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if said I. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Has he come with you to-night?" really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "Was your sister dressed?" weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "I was mad--insane." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion and wait." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "An accident, I presume?" It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is knowledge of the world." "And when will you call?" grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing wall." London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "'Oh, no.' some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the business." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as You want to know what became of those geese?" her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk asked. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "And did you observe any change in her then?" manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "I think it very unlikely." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the one which it was hard to resist. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. to take care of herself." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "And from a noble client?" "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church a suggestive one." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "By all means." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think for and were ordered to this address. wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "Oh, the cause is excellent!" man. other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is tension within him. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "Precisely so. But how--" least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the who was a member of your goose club." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "'About the same.' and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the charged with?" caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A