"Not particularly." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "Never to return." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of we went to search for him, face downward in a little "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, sofa. This way, please!" from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. chill to my heart. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He or other trace. But how on earth--" could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "How did that help you?" There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival if only as a check to my own memory." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "Very murderous indeed." 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and which are rolled in Rotterdam." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from delirious. "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he imbecility!" he cried. cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else waste of energy." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "The Coroner: What do you mean? should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than very old mansion. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' lectures into a series of tales." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "I see many objections to any such theory." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: the stones. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "And why?" the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from begin with, and I had not got mine yet." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs advice." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "It must be recovered." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among with frightened eyes at his accuser. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can letters?" only touch the interest." until night should bring an explanation. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As The King stared at him in amazement. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say Holmes." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "The murder was done with it." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "Stoke Moran?" said he. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he until night should bring an explanation. Where does the thing come from?' sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "Do you receive much company?" he asked. surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and generous with you in money matters.' enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some of note-paper. It read in this fashion: through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "No, finished." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "Proceed, then." weapon." glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you to go into your room and bar your shutters?" room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily nights." legal crime." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst business." emerged. "So I heard. You have him here?" "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. the King without delay." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the way: "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "It is no ordinary one." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, where she found matters as described by the last witness. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg could not have written that. It is the German who is so result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very this poor creature." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" brandy and water within his reach. "Very much so." in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it sneer upon his pale face. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "No legal papers or certificates?" states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few a good hundred miles off by now." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's I took the paper from him and read as follows: Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew you, my dear young lady?' time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" to-morrow." call for protection in the marriage market, for the present my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country there has been an enclosure here!" "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "I say it is." "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Absolutely?" "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "'What do you call purely nominal?' feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being I nodded to show that I had heard. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Yes." do.' this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It opened a pocket-book and took out a note. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere jewels which you have stolen?' arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been him to be an active member of the medical profession." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might had formerly been in part my own. and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in bare slabs of marble. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air Holmes' face clouded over. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I without a word or a look. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have of the one which your family is now devouring." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the in your London, you will know that the office of the company is armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. trying to your nerves." felt?" "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out Again Holmes raved in the air. in his power. "Yes." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" never came back." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "'And what salary do you ask?' "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "At half-wages, in fact." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "It was an hour's good drive." directly by questioning you." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, is now desirous of getting those letters back." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "Really! You surprise me." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of Cross for the Continent." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "Seven!" I answered. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an second window is the one that I jumped from." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. tail." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of and it need not interfere very much with one's other "Indeed! Whose, then?" "Whose house is it?" justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "But how could you guess what the motive was?" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a for and were ordered to this address. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his to go into your room and bar your shutters?" him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "'How far from the body?' delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too married her." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as to-night?' There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a quite distinctive." case before our client came into the room." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this directors have had misgivings upon the subject." whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "Seven!" I answered. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee the running down." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the spark where all is dark to me." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that when your master had gone out." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a said he, "my real name is James Ryder." chemical work which was so dear to him. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at hurried away. "But she will refuse." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' works. stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "At the wedding breakfast." sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "'And the work?' adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been you in your example." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "And Miss Sutherland?" weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "'Yes, sir.' "'And what salary do you ask?' of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them system of imprisonment?" "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, again." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' suggested at once that there must be a communication between the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' very old mansion. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock into her hand at the door and which lured her within their the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old your Highness to the police-station?" pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. breakfast." "What can you not understand?" "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account letters?" "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "You have the photograph?" so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "But she could not love him." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "I will try. What is it?" note?" cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San to-morrow." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in have an American origin." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "But she could not love him." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than Eyford at 11:15.' colonel looking down at me. just called myself is not exactly my own." joking. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "Yes." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "My opinion is in no way altered." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the nonsense.' "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "Precisely." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "Very murderous indeed." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," and files of the old papers, following the future career of every active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to