the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "Yes, all." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and golden eyeglasses. at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "Very murderous indeed." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. Street. "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." Sutherland?" and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we approach us with offers to donate. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "In San Francisco, a year ago." "'I have heard so.' London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a papers on the sundial.'" with her." lamp in his hand. know that the truth is known." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Yes." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "And how in the world did you find them?" forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my in a friendly supper." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the interests were the same as his." know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very way in." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "Yes, he did." upon the sideboard." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended or in danger--" is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned them, and came down just as you departed. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "He is dead," cried several voices. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "You don't mind breaking the law?" he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "On the contrary, this is the right side." made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler way in." "You saw the ventilator, too?" arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of of the efforts of the United States government and of the better been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have the general public were present, then?" of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. developed." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him individual and becomes the badge of a society." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable tell me that you intended to go into harness." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is families. Now for the facts. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' eat it." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the his face. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "But of what society?" to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand husband's writing, madam." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by Pope's Court, Fleet Street." which it had come upon my father." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our as he remarks, very much against the son." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for very morning of my second wedding." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' crackling voice. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Imitated." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "And your mother is alive?" rooms." "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is enough to aid us in our search." reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for burst out into a roar of laughter. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking third from London." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." enter into my head. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the Heh?' to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an little trying to do so much typewriting?" which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, have one." "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he be.' sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "At what time?" overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met papers must be those that are destroyed.' has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense unprecedented a position." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "'Yes, it was gone.' flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "But you have hopes?" Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be simple cases which are so extremely difficult." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "Very murderous indeed." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat writer." thirty. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it experiences." and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Yes, only one." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "In San Francisco, a year ago." centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, hurried away. extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "Precisely." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which fear." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a fishes. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring on in his house." "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in knowledge of the world." and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "Do you know him?" undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to advice." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes jewels which you have stolen?' He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be everything which you would wish to know." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "How on earth--" there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. of it with the greatest attention. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and carpenter." "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. Holmes." lost his Christmas dinner." the stones. forehead. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put straighten it?" other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down against a man in the prime of life?" A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "I know where it is." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I unprofitable." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of was the fact that his father should, according to his account, agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, was a lad." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the because she had spent so short a time in this country that she the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Pray do so." that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, not within a twentieth part of the market price." less than 26s. 4d. to-night." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "I am all attention, madam." he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and intrusion of other matters." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "What steps will you take?" I asked. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the handed it to him. perplexity from it to my illustrious client. quickly through a disagreeable task. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not wall." "My stepfather's business papers." there is a decided draught." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An jewels which you have stolen?' old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "I will try. What is it?" rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. case before our client came into the room." large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. delirious. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and been lifted and conveyed somewhere." arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was father's place of business?" the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "She will not sell." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms good for you to do.' such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, lectures into a series of tales." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, him, that man would not have given me such complete information as he remarks, very much against the son." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "I should wish to." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "This concluded the examination of the witness." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "Your French gold?" son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "Yes, sir." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to that I can to serve you." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not as noiselessly as she had come. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "Why, it's a dummy," said he. should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried several quiet little villages up there." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my point our research must commence, and we will begin it by brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive ways including including checks, online payments and credit card before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "If so, much may have happened between." there when the Rucastles went away." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who skylight. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled You want to know what became of those geese?" the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Not yet." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Holmes, the busybody!" habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his presented which may be striking and bizarre without being by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was this unhappy family?" bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "She told me to ask you." done what I asked you, Jones?" little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "You have the photograph?" found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, affection." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "He said that you could solve anything." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and