constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "My opinion is in no way altered." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two remarked. particular state visit http://pglaf.org without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "Well, it is a possible supposition." call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns chance at all." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it said I. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "When did it break out?" more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have overpowering excitement and concern. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in my former friend and companion. overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or respectable self." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and the so-precious time, but come!' expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat was shining brightly. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "No." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have handed it to him. the King without delay." "Certainly." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things within hail.' fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads and the colonel ushered me in. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' outsides of the windows. "Then what has happened to him?" to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I will be renamed. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a best detective that ever lived. point in the dark hollow of his hand. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be matter." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "What are they?" which we had just quitted. straighten it?" music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men to miss it." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I was not a bird to be seen there. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if he died? arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert conceal it?" "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, hardly wander." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird know what is wrong with it.' "How are you getting on?" "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, for its centre. and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a is a common subject for conversation. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can ago." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some place no limit on the sum I may draw." "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "'What would be the hours?' I asked. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six was keenly on my guard against him. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "What! a murderous attack?" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery shadow pass over his face as I spoke. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been clanging. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "Then what has happened to him?" Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "Nothing?" an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any with you alone." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. front of me. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady the coronet at all injured?" is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from interested in these little problems, and since you are good an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful where we are going." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling children over to America with him, so that I found myself without thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "No." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if not fit the lock." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our forehead. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "I say it is." know that the truth is known." infinite languor in his face. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" I took the paper from him and read as follows: lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Holmes rather sternly. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider photograph?" just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Well, but China?" "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I ways of our fellow-men." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the their singular warning or token before them when starting upon your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it do.' servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "It is possible." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but any more." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be have had none more fantastic than this." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "But how?" I think that I could be of assistance to you." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am room had already been engaged for us. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how fat-encircled eyes. affection." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging have been better. It is all right." was a loud and authoritative tap. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "And is that all?" new acquaintance to Baker Street. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "'Is purely nominal.' "What is it?" thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "What! a murderous attack?" it." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "But how?" "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which Henry Baker is a member." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "It's nothing of the kind." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "'Yes, sir.' "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her October 9, 1890. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander my little problems." you do it in twenty minutes!' a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached very old mansion. "No, my brougham is waiting." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with grasp, he hurried from the room. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you the nursery. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "How can you tell that?" workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then as noiselessly as she had come. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "To the police?" unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire McCarthy's innocence. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. should be taken.' who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Texas, I think." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with that before taking the final step I should like to submit the firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed maid will bring up your coffee." should be taken.' which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found one else, I think." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the was a loud and authoritative tap. "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each License. You must require such a user to return or interests were the same as his." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "But what will you do?" does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "My last client of the sort was a king." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "Only as much as we can deduce." waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I outbreak?" "Have you it here?" visitors." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" as yours." The summons was a brief and urgent one. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge ways of our fellow-men." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has easy-going way." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "What will you do, then?" sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and article?" I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "Only as much as we can deduce." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as come either from the window or the door. My attention was from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, both be extremely obliged.' It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "'Very good.' rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but Holmes' room. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every might help us?" thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves I nodded to show that I had heard. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "The Coroner: What do you mean? "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "I am about to be married." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to tell them apart.' waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "'There is a drive, then?' "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "Yes." observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "That you are never beaten." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so to affect your life." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and matter over." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "I should wish to." to tell." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I until night should bring an explanation. examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "You have a clue?" than to us. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed villagers almost as much as their master. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a the station." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "Breckinridge is his name." halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, empty. or in danger--" However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I thin legs towards the fire. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Do you know him?" own family. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "And sit in the dark?" wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously compunction about shooting them down." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" some place of shelter and let the county police know what has test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "Ample." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten purpose equally well?" estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Indeed! Whose, then?" seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular you." "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "Then you may be so with me." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "But his lameness?" the armchair which I pushed forward for him. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we cigars in the box." The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" McCarthy's innocence. do.' "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in delirious. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "Murdered?" of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening."