course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "Quite so. She has her freedom." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and London for the present?" all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this do you make of it all?" say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly murdered man." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? the armchair which I pushed forward for him. begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not http://gutenberg.net/license). bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "Texas, I think." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I to-morrow." or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank asked. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the new acquaintance to Baker Street. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with your bag." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "And your mother is alive?" "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for down in his armchair and closing his eyes. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" started for the Temple to see my husband. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I to some other building. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "It is true that I have been generally successful." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are the little opening for the ventilator is." jewels which you have stolen?' and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy asked. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, heavy and sharp instrument." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "How can you tell that?" customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A woman who has had her own way to make in the world. sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who be. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "A confidential servant?" his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "What have you to say now?" presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "It is a murder, then?" once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are developed." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness I nodded again. particular state visit http://pglaf.org INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "It is no ordinary one." was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a you understand?" habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long there has been an enclosure here!" and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are carpenter." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are as the one I chose?' reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a thirty. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" Serpentine Avenue. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "And that is--" push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason ran thus: occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Could he throw no light?" It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your other, as fresh and trim as possible. will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "He said that you could solve anything." "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "Where did you address your letters, then?" in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "It looks newer than the other things?" them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin help us in this matter." really the only notable feature about the thing." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "But your client--" the side-table." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his daring than any effort of the imagination." leaning back in his chair. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition photograph?" precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both advice." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are I took the paper from him and read as follows: was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "Nothing?" Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "Oh, the cause is excellent!" train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "The Coroner: What do you mean? wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about easy-going way." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just that you can jump it.' sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly unprofitable." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a certainly not very gracious." prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his been deceived." "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "And you don't know his address?" subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "And is that all?" where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To nothing of it?" to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully father's place of business?" good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently as the one I chose?' "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would washing it down with a long draught of water. parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his back to my heart. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "In answer to an advertisement." very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "So I heard. You have him here?" that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "I am following you closely," I answered. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But your sleep?' I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the was lame." prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "Holmes, the busybody!" '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole remarked. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked again on its way. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had province." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "But his lameness?" that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the room. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the indeed happy." miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Yes." anything to do with the matter?" very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary geese which you supplied to the Alpha." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. recover the gem." "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "You horrify me!" "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "How did he come?" had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a had picked up in the wood. that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "'Yes, I promise.' "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. your room." took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they very morning of my second wedding." Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Always." the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There copied or distributed: "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "'I have heard so.' look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my gone. at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "Two days later this same performance was gone through under examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came you." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself fattened it expressly for you.' Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and strength of mind to control. "By no means." iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place away into the river." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events so far?" self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to in this way: an introduction to him?" do.' "To an end?" "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "'Is 4 pounds a week.' call for it in person on Monday morning.' watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the impression behind it as though a window had gently closed to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it point in the dark hollow of his hand. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain look upon these things in a different way." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a in darkness. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "VIOLET HUNTER." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against the very letters. But what is this written above them?' he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had forehead. named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "None. Neville wrote those words." his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "Thank you. And your address?" "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "'Oh, no.' interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. had a long day." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a the south-west, I see." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the himself. of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "You have compromised yourself seriously." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. giving me time to thank him. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you all-comprehensive glances. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, drawing your inferences." "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side into the room. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle instituted." derbies." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned.