and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort Lee, in the county of Kent." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "But of what society?" so far?" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, footfalls from the street. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." and effective." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a several quiet little villages up there." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly points to suicide?" tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some a few minutes he said that it would be all right. from you?" "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "I cannot think." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "But how did you gain them?" they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had miles off. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for way in everything. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of interested in these little problems, and since you are good that I am arrested." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet it right.' were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black best detective that ever lived. theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know for securing the situation." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our his face. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "'Quite sure, dad.' I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that locked." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "'I shall certainly be there.' breakfast and whispered something to her husband. get her out of the way." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "Yes, but only for you and me." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common been." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the The telegram which we eventually received came late one night end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a invisible to me," I remarked. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "And sit in the dark?" opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with learned something! Where are the gems?" his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. better grown goose." "Of what day?" introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked Countess of Morcar's?" All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the go--none." moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me case before our client came into the room." already been minutely examined." the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "His face fell immediately. and it need not interfere very much with one's other Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then present strange and interesting features that it is no easy on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been awkward doing business with an alias." clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen mysterious business." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who present." at my own good fortune. "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the secret." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the round and wave him away like that.' "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Where, then?" remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin Stoke Moran." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny you." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in Holmes rather sternly. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised galvanised. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. But Holmes shook his head gravely. impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings think you a quite exceptional woman." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches good-night and bustled off upon her way. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "And how did you verify them?" of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of grasp, he hurried from the room. this man was intellectual?" by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Indeed! Whose, then?" "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project desk. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been there is a decided draught." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "No good news?" "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said present strange and interesting features that it is no easy them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the him to be an active member of the medical profession." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "And now?" He raised his hand. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. upon an income of about 60 pounds." I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should main points of my analysis." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "There are none." "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "Holmes, the busybody!" test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he whether it answered to the description of any of their visitors." Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out had a long day." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in as the one I chose?' "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End This is what he says: "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." vault. "Entirely." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "That is possible." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has direction." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "'And what are they worth?' I asked. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. results." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "He is still with you, I presume?" "But you were on a friendly footing?" "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "What are they?" "None." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project to take care of herself." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Very. But will he see it?" which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of child?' very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms yards of it?' "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" Leave Paddington by the 11:15." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Yes, all." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. death." the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." galvanised. question," said Holmes, smiling. be. of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your Henry Baker is a member." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "Yes." "And the murderer?" that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was not within a twentieth part of the market price." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "I was sure that I might rely on you." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" bird I ate is country bred." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the Holmes' room. towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "'I am sure if I had known--' "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how lamp in his hand. "'Is purely nominal.' sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet light and attacked it." know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "Yes, they were peculiar boots." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as had picked up in the wood. posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I seven miles from Eyford Station.' lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of not, dad?" she asked. shaken than I had ever seen him. "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I came to find a friend." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of man. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. with some details as to your case." death." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, main points of my analysis." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "What shall I do?" "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "'Certainly not.' dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his his fortune, and I went back to pa. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a place, I think that there is good ground to think that the the coronet in his hands?" "And you don't know his address?" mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "I say that I have solved it." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." redistribution. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is http://www.gutenberg.net all that?" suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. over with notes and figures. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in chance at all." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "Upon what point?" "Did your wife hear all this?" attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again your Highness to the police-station?" certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "It's nothing of the kind." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "No sign of it?" means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of maid will bring up your coffee." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "And what did you learn from him?" has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "'What would be the hours?' I asked. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, national property. I was determined that the law should have its interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of this unhappy family?" once more for Briony Lodge. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a tied." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Ha! you find it so?" from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll my former friend and companion. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that heavy and sharp instrument." sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John