the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at will be renamed. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet might have a private word with us. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "And how did he make his money?" shall use the carriage to-night." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the better grown goose." again." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive means taking possession of that which another person has a prior his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "None." "It is solved." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "Imitated." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, hardly wander." front of me. "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his appeal." delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to and have this put in the evening papers." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "He slept on the premises." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "Perhaps we may make them less so." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power His smile broadened. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "Not him." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "I warn you that they are very incomplete." transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "I am to be neutral?" street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "What I expected to see." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced held up the lantern and gazed about him. as he remarks, very much against the son." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "What have you done?" asked Holmes. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "I shall be delighted." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "What I expected to see." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "Stoke Moran?" said he. innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "And your mother is alive?" interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I the station." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, the tragedy. "And that is--" there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, absorbing." when you have done it." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes What do you deduce from it?" to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "He might." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have some water from a caraffe. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is character. in the hope of finding them." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of the so-precious time, but come!' "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a posted to-day." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year to a more successful conclusion." answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "No, I am descending." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real Street. creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, made him keep the appointment." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew keep the flames under. "On the contrary, this is the right side." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Then you may entirely rely on me." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want strange features which were associated with the two crimes which not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are envelope. last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were Countess of Morcar's?" sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "Well." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That him, that man would not have given me such complete information cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a the station." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at the driver. "Yesterday." "Where did you address your letters, then?" DAMAGE. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in held up the lantern and gazed about him. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." at my own good fortune. "Yes, it would be as well." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady girl said." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to directly by questioning you." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray copied or distributed: pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he politicians who had been sent down from the North. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! is acting for the best. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My about. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have walking." "'Quite sure, dad.' 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a south, for the country is more deserted there." overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that I leave." the child." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "'Never,' said I. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign head. So long, then!" "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of evidence," I remarked. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, completely overtopped every other consideration that we both is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "Yes, all." miles off. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. me upon any point which I do not make clear." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." Edgeware Road. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied written. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor grasp, he hurried from the room. and files of the old papers, following the future career of every practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must You can understand that this register and diary may implicate stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "Then I do not see the point." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "Awake, Watson?" he asked. heavily into it. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry thin, with a long, sharp nose?" upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "But his lameness?" without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "Has he come with you to-night?" as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and very peculiar words of the dying woman?" better grown goose." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in outbreak?" heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions matter." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be tear off another piece?' "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy weighed down with some great anxiety. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "My stepfather's business papers." my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his excitement. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come our word." "Stoke Moran?" said he. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black there were one or two details which were new to me. But the away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel your equipment. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "You think so, too?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the again before evening." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the not within a twentieth part of the market price." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a that, and I came down." look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save chance." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may a very grave face. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his not use it unless it is absolutely needed." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "BALLARAT." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for your billet.' roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, have I gained?" closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "And why in hopes?" shoulder; "he's all right." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any awaited us upon the table. when your master had gone out." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I for and were ordered to this address. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining matter." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "'Then let me do so?' Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "A call for help, you thought?" "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a have one." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without in one or two places in England?' his grey eyes. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Very much so." "Look there!" said he. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "And the cigar-holder?" "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something the morning and make my own way in the world.' for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and your sleep?' "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' and files of the old papers, following the future career of every presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "Certainly." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might http://gutenberg.net/license). marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to learned something! Where are the gems?" card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" children over to America with him, so that I found myself without story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on of receipt of the work. ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." once more to my work. "You have compromised yourself seriously." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "'Entirely.' considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he once more. friend's singular character. "And for present expenses?" "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of one's self under obligations.' hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own the house with me." once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Yes, there are nearly always some there." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will it." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was that threaten you." no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, the bed, and you in that chair." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a union?" gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets bonnet, and went out." "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "I will try. What is it?" the dangers which encompass me." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "That's no good." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "And from a noble client?" "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The outsides of the windows. but preventing her from injuring another. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than call for protection in the marriage market, for the present business at Coburg Square is serious." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "About a month then." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, woman." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Quite so." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel forehead. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "None. Neville wrote those words." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers