"I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and Watson," he said cordially. to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at telegram would bring me down to your help." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott be there in time for your coming." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, question. and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, more solid." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he and have this put in the evening papers." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." nonsense.' "And your father? Did you tell him?" must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon the Red-headed League." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "Certainly." his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a of campaign. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. Leadenhall Street--and--" family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Not him." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel salesman. everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and my special province." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "And how?" seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "We must have a cab." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" in a very precise fashion." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was that there was nothing in it, after all." The telegram which we eventually received came late one night was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, entirely devoid of interest." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the Where does the thing come from?' was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "But how could you guess what the motive was?" Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "My dear Holmes!" "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows empty. south, for the country is more deserted there." hair?' merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in the Assizes." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ back into the street. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." case before our client came into the room." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "This photograph!" me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to there!' "Certainly." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower long narrative. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is bachelor.' They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary shall use the carriage to-night." man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. deduce something from that?" someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Very truly yours, "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. went to the Alpha were town bred." gives a meaning to it." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of photograph a cabinet?" help us in this matter." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "By no means." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who sit on the left-hand side of the driver." his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the kind enough to tell me what I should do." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic only touch the interest." of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were weighed down with some great anxiety. really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind tail." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we becomes even more simple." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered in one or two places in England?' his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was burst into a hearty fit of laughter. smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that matter." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "And for present expenses?" "By no means." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "What have you to say now?" knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. the armchair which I pushed forward for him. the driver. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "It is very clear." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "But what harm can there be in that?" without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY through." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my morning." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, again before evening." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "Where is it, then?" any little problem which you may submit to me." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, Street. "Will you bet, then?" "I think it very unlikely." Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "No. His orders were to stay in the house." John Swain, of St. Augustine. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "'Yes, it was gone.' "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "How are you getting on?" passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me without success. At last the little money which I had saved began Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "'Yes, sir.' "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a it." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "And how did he make his money?" His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be putting in the horse. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "No, distinctly professional." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "What will you say?" time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right morning." "Indeed! Whose, then?" possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "What, then?" until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land have established a very serious case against the son of the mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "'I have already given you my word.' train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "But you have hopes?" warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." mystery may be cleared along those lines." to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "Were they all fastened this morning?" just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative least a most suspicious remark." met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." charge against him will break down." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of this Miss Turner." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and matters immensely." when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were His smile broadened. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. 1.F. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more she might be summoned. which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each least a fellow-countryman. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "And how did you find out?" went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my speckled band?" home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "May I see it?" I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than one else, I think." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" Eyford at 11:15.' sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "No, distinctly professional." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "'Yes, sir.' gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very I held the little printed slip to the light. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "Yes, all." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "But I am all in the dark." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a his forehead." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, even of instruction." "But your client--" to talk it over. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever think that any burglar could have done. "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave must be when I saw the door open.' other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "Then, how do you know?" material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about at home. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few You want to know what became of those geese?" it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' discontent upon his features. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding and put his glass in his pocket. "Then how many are there?" "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." unkempt, staring out at me. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable so far?" then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. question. the south-west, I see." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to the station." words came to my lips. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about suspect him." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "Have you it here?" "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms to change my dress. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have hour?' in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at fuss that is made over them." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere fattened it expressly for you.' answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both business matters.' assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the face and glided from the room. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the charge against him will break down." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, me." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My next day. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" Pope's Court, Fleet Street." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a