an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "Yes." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready occurred." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband occupations.' the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' quick march!" trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. of Fenchurch Street." has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "Certainly." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked and put his glass in his pocket. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a in this way: breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "'And the work?' dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is directors have had misgivings upon the subject." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The is worth.' his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I said I. it." the running down." 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." copied or distributed: to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, not interfere, come what may. You understand?" advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper him nearly every evening." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "No, I think that I'll take it." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting train from Paddington which would bring you there at about foresight and the moral retrogression?" was keenly on my guard against him. following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "How can you tell that?" "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your had a long day." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "You'll never persuade me to believe that." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "'Ample.' cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, arrested. You then--" "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we the very morning of the wedding." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "So it appears." the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "By all means." yet." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the again before evening." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal could not account in any way for the presence of the missing 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was the nursery. Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last must be when I saw the door open.' British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and straightened it out again. solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "Then, as to money?" very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a wedding?" lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were presented which may be striking and bizarre without being taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "And I say east," said my patient. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such I approached. "Then, as to money?" McCarthy." "What I expected to see." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "It was a confession," I ejaculated. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east have I gained?" enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in matter." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove client, rising. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, when you have done it." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take just called myself is not exactly my own." tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. key of the affair now." indeed which he could not unravel. client, rising. "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "Why, what do you mean?" I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second you in yours." likely to be some crony of the landlady's." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "I am to be neutral?" impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would quick march!" of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of a good hundred miles off by now." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that IS sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have the station." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that even so self-evident a thing as that." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "And you can do nothing until then?" of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. tied." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, back into the street. Chief Executive and Director to some other building. charge against him will break down." know what is wrong with it.' stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each read over the extraordinary announcement. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. our word." States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some Holmes rather sternly. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "And the cigar-holder?" "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "We have tried and failed." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "9th. McCauley cleared. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the who was a member of your goose club." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "One?" End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black been with you?" the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen as yours." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "Game for a morning drive?" dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who three of the beryls in it, was missing. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the families. Now for the facts. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of http://gutenberg.net/license). "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which constraint." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "Why? What do you mean?" Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two front of me. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa hopeless attempt at recovering them." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. chamber." which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him green of the new foliage. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his Henry Baker is a member." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the at once, for I have only half an hour." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "'I have heard so.' "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey soul! here is her carriage at the door." he died? the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with some water from a caraffe. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the bird I ate is country bred." the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, least a most suspicious remark." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' have been better. It is all right." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that presented which may be striking and bizarre without being Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. photograph?" End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, plantation.' "Precisely." four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Ha! you find it so?" hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. stammered. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was do.' concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional I leave." "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were certainly do as you advise." could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you look dissatisfied." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the morning." the driver. Street. you want, then?' "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He following enigmatical notices: up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is you in your example." "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. see a sister of mine apply for." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If said I. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the future lives." bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. when your master had gone out." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it waste of energy." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his joking. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you writing, and yet I know it well." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a correct than the official force." refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." the night.' out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Certainly, madam." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger swore that no one else had been in the front room during the When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may It was close upon four before the door opened, and a whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from will be renamed. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "No, finished." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "Why? What do you mean?" "'Yes.' difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" must compliment you." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "He said too much." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite congenial hunt. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He as this. Pray let me have the details." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "'In my own bureau.' Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek delighted to hear it," he said. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right