dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing hurried away. "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." and a shock of very red hair. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but when you have done it." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of nothing of it?" and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "I was sure that I might rely on you." frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in at home. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester the armchair which I pushed forward for him. goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "An accident, I presume?" the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "That was it, sir." man. word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or me where it went to?" We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Absolutely?" "'What then?' I asked. refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her occurred." across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as your only hope of safety." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated back alive. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "My private note-paper." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my hair?' dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over as yours." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my started for the Temple to see my husband. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "I don't say that. Perhaps." your equipment. sound at heart." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that what do you think they found in the pockets?" subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw to take care of herself." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "A call for help, you thought?" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such row." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we down in his armchair and closing his eyes. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "'What would be the hours?' I asked. dates and names. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to second window is the one that I jumped from." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "No." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are this unhappy family?" not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving eat it." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "Ha! you find it so?" "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to will find little credit to be gained out of this case." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "At what time?" first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and security.' money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening young Openshaw's." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation get her out of the way." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." like gravel from a pit.' in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. fat-encircled eyes. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his key turn in the lock." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "It is a murder, then?" "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "But who is he?" enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "That is not always so easy." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "He is still with you, I presume?" "'I have heard so.' would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole should be taken.' doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All woman." "This concluded the examination of the witness." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated village inn over there?" ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his works. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head this poor creature." yet." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "You have but to name it." "That is easily got." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and take the flies, but not before." when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "'And the work?' to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen excitement. the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the had formerly been in part my own. though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon tightly behind him. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. highroad, where all traces were lost. shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, prison!" pound a week." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "No, my brougham is waiting." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks all-comprehensive glances. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was it were putty." "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white back to my heart. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "I guessed as much." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "I would pay ten." Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "Who by?" doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is business?" came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "Of Friday, June 19th." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "But you would not advise me to refuse?" from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his advice." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "You did not overhear what they said?" "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "It was." eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the been able to understand it, in a very few words. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which cigar and let me expound." your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think appeal." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange Holmes rather sternly. was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had me where it went to?" Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or there has been an enclosure here!" I took the paper from him and read as follows: should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There him and tried to hold him back. brandy and water within his reach. directors, with the result that you have seen." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "I am armed." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "No, I think that I'll take it." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking said I. borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "My dear Holmes!" mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an father's young wife. "That's no good." 1.E.9. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "Yes." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "And how?" ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. the room while you explain this matter?" you came in." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "'Yes, sir.' tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under Sutherland. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other be best to do. "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the pressing in one house as in another. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to who was a member of your goose club." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I deduce something from that?" of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "Not in a good cause." "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "And I to find an enemy." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news the room while you explain this matter?" "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "Who was the criminal, then?" me. returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to been able to understand it, in a very few words. "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, whereabouts. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "That sounds a little paradoxical." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine entirely devoid of interest." I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "And on what day did he meet his death?" true." against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "But it has twice been burgled." better grown goose." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had is now desirous of getting those letters back." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally coroner's jury." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "Oh, yes, easily." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "One of his hands." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting highroad, where all traces were lost. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We pressing in one house as in another. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking useful material for showing traces. The double line a little are, I think, all that we need." And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." help us in this matter." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple crime. one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "She walked into the breakfast-room." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a hands. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting License. You must require such a user to return or Young McCarthy must be got off, however." place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "It is half-past ten now." upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your them, and came down just as you departed. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he careless servant girl?" harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "And how in the world did you find them?" Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One promised to bring home. keep the flames under. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood father's young wife. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried putting in the horse. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "Only as much as we can deduce." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin second."