"You have compromised yourself seriously." "Perhaps we may make them less so." outside." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Then, as to money?" is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and against a man in the prime of life?" "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "In the cells." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found all?" "'Is purely nominal.' have accepted such a situation. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, in my life." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to thirty. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away that he will be back before evening." visitors." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own Arthur Conan Doyle trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "An enemy?" double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Countess of Morcar's?" it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the few hundred pounds.' keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy them, and came down just as you departed. society." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" upon an income of about 60 pounds." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me about here speaks of his kindness to him." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife tension within him. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is cost them two and thirty pounds." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the kind enough to tell me what I should do." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "Then I shall certainly come." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Certainly." had picked up in the wood. of his shoulders. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "Precisely." "My dear Holmes!" "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so the inquest, and which are worth considering." once more for Briony Lodge. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as me what he had done with the three missing stones. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in infinite languor in his face. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the beyond words. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece to tell." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the dates and names. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the front of me. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "'Yes, sir.' headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "'I am sure that I do not know.' day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by Sutherland?" seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need in the port of London." "It was." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions which our visitor detailed to us. "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a then?" what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. you." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to thin legs towards the fire. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong him and tried to hold him back. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had for the market.' forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a hour." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my security.' "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS From what you have told me I think that it is possible that these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "My photograph." is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has arms and began to sob in a high treble key. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both bird of prey. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood as yours." to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. are, I think, all that we need." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Yes, that is the Crown." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was humiliation." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" The telegram which we eventually received came late one night do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "What then?" the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see ordinary clothes on?" toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now bare slabs of marble. "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Well." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Pray do so." "You saw the ventilator, too?" your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll disappearance of the bride.'" "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little father's place of business?" contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "Imitated." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he of the one which your family is now devouring." truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "'What would be the hours?' I asked. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good was used.' "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and a monotonous occupation." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake how narrow had been my escape. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he considering the formidable letters which were received by himself opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm ill-usage at the hands of fortune. she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning hands. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying my special province." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress stood on the top of it. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "My own seal." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend of your young ladies.' that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. results." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug your own bird, so if you wish--" to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both on re-entering her father's house?" met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, know what is wrong with it.' which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards the Friday. Was it to be in church?" in a very precise fashion." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "Perhaps we may make them less so." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "'Yes, I promise.' "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "It is a murder, then?" into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you served to weaken the effect. I took the paper from him and read as follows: Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter business at Coburg Square is serious." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Deserted you?" these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "Yes, sir." "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is handed it to him. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "You are certainly joking, Holmes." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the that I am arrested." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "Dirty?" into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "What I expected to see." "The best possible." have one." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I name is different." "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I the morning and make my own way in the world.' these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few the station." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of hardly wander." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Then you may be so with me." didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "And why?" to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body in him." voice. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "'About the same.' informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and awaited us upon the table. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. get her out of the way." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "And what did you learn from him?" a very grave face. left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed Street. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a row." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well learned something! Where are the gems?" walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an friend's singular character. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "Not in a good cause." "The best possible." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been events, Mr. Windibank!" unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each away into the river." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' Sutherland. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. humiliation." my special province." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "Yes, from Horsham." business at Coburg Square is serious." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the better grown goose." Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "Yes, all." was a lad."