unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "I should like to see him very much." McCarthy." "And Irene Adler?" breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time me." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "I never have." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of would then never go into court at all." "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading things are very often connected not with the larger but with the first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that I think that I could be of assistance to you." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "'I am sure that I do not know.' and a shock of very red hair. maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for man. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "I see many objections to any such theory." "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "'No, I know no one in these parts.' The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and States. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw the ceiling. in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, I approached. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. where we are going." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in of Fenchurch Street." the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry in the hope of finding them." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given License. You must require such a user to return or "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "I see many objections to any such theory." "But how did you gain them?" into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "He disappeared so suddenly." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, During two years I have had three consultations and one small "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss yourselves in at night?" into her hand at the door and which lured her within their on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "'As governess?' which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "I think it very unlikely." "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "Stolen, then." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are would then never go into court at all." breakfast?" a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as to arrive at through this?" "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An heavy and sharp instrument." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, forehead. anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the Lestrade of Scotland Yard." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes at once, for I have only half an hour." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with him, that man would not have given me such complete information once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should was used.' it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two His smile broadened. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the such person." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands geese which you supplied to the Alpha." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the dear old homesteads?" firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that get her out of the way." "It missed him, then?" there!' mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor papers on the sundial.'" bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric absorbing." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us upon an income of about 60 pounds." "That is it on the dressing-table." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do is four-and-twenty." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate shall use the carriage to-night." "Yes, but only for you and me." dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of new duties?' who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he ill-usage at the hands of fortune. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of likely to be some crony of the landlady's." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to views." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself said Mr. Holder. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon that the gas is not laid on in his house?" about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant I am not easy in my mind about them." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See other means.' more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she already referred to. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his bed dies. Does not that strike you?" stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well man. I know him from the photograph." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon drove away. listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, that I can to serve you." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "'Never,' said I. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out out." "I fear not." "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in cheerful." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or occurred." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the nothing of it?" while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two leave you to your papers for a little." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "A greater distance to travel." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how morning." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been formed some opinion?" located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an respectable self." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the did not hear it also.' latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention heavily into it. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his night.' said he. and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "Ah!" analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than noting anything else of interest. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "That sounds a little paradoxical." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. will be renamed. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "Yes, but only for you and me." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Yes, all." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which business in the City. She little knew what. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than goes." soul! here is her carriage at the door." little adventures." and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple yet." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this nice household for a young lady." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "'No, I know no one in these parts.' that you wished to speak to me?' "I do." Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" electronic works doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done had picked up in the wood. age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, I leave." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be his face. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two within hail.' "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three dear old homesteads?" "In heaven's name, what for?" Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "But how will you look?" impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "And you thought he was pulled back?" adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided conclusions. "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "'I shall certainly be there.' "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "It's nothing of the kind." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Well?" may never be exposed to such a temptation." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window tear off another piece?' frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended strength of mind to control. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "Do you go out much in society?" get her out of the way." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned are, I think, all that we need." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For nothing of it?" that I am arrested." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it looking up at the numbers of the houses." rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our at my remark. opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler outside. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, lamp in his hand. 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "And now?" I asked. "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. the armchair which I pushed forward for him. is worth.' as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Yes, at the mines." held up the lantern and gazed about him. return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Very. But will he see it?" I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There completely overtopped every other consideration that we both fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "Pray let us have it, for all that." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "You are certainly joking, Holmes." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "What! Had he lost his wife?" the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' she used." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. sneer upon his pale face. is now desirous of getting those letters back." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular interest. They are important, you understand, without being his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly and capable of preserving a secret.' plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, Does that suggest anything?" "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but tied." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two populous neighbourhood." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "You will not go there first?" quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "That is easily got." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads London for the present?" "Entirely." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you observed. For additional contact information: from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the dramatic, in fact." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" over here." other, as fresh and trim as possible. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "But your client--" cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee