with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "I fear not." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her had died away into the silence from which it rose. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than your equipment. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "Very truly yours, have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of good for you to do.' "He might." "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a such person." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into deduce something from that?" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in daring than any effort of the imagination." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our definite end. that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in to have that photograph." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "Very. But will he see it?" had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. me have 200 pounds?' "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the crowd. make me his representative both with the servants and with the "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with invisible to me," I remarked. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage important." objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of bedroom door." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "So I am. Very much so." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always away into the river." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or think, you have already met." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, to you." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "At half-wages, in fact." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about of his shoulders. the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "I would give my fortune to have them back." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "In the cells." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" strange features which were associated with the two crimes which Literary Archive Foundation and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and murdered man." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "What!" he roared. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "He said too much." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "Why serious?" "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told danger is over." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "You are certainly joking, Holmes." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently do you make of it all?" forebodings. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a had formerly been in part my own. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting from you?" web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "But we can't all be." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged I am not easy in my mind about them." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven cup of tea. occupations.' suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "Yes." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps she might be summoned. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to walking." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the digesting their breakfasts at home." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood My friend smiled. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "What I expected to see." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "You did not overhear what they said?" "Why, it's a dummy," said he. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "I think it very unlikely." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit neither fascinating nor artistic." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a begin with, and I had not got mine yet." life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "I think that it is very probable." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the chamber." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for place of silver." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a Again Holmes raved in the air. "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat handed it to him. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "Imitated." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "It may not come to that," said Holmes. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "Did he not advertise?" him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a at a side door. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "No?" Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself instituted." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." writer." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "The King of Scandinavia." you came in." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can again." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "He is still with you, I presume?" "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. it right.' not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my papers diligently of late, have you not?" to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "My dear Holmes!" him to go away.' outside." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no interests were the same as his." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in hurried by. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no London for the present?" sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. comes from the middle window." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "I say it is." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "And is that all?" that?' reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the whereabouts. "Yes, sir." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "I think it very unlikely." off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a morning." "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the had a long day." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped me what he had done with the three missing stones. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having said I. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, events than those which have happened in my own family." turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Not in the least." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "Come in!" said he. that threaten you." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "How did that help you?" but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the cigars in their mouths. stalked out of the room. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of envelope. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in was used.' "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "Why did you beat the pavement?" lamp in his hand. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced ourselves in the office." someone who had been in Australia." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your about here speaks of his kindness to him." "But his left-handedness." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of place, I think that there is good ground to think that the public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "Precisely." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as of note-paper. It read in this fashion: Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous important." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing mysterious end." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "My last client of the sort was a king." shaken than I had ever seen him. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no of it with the greatest attention. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that is acting for the best. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "Certainly." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the yourselves in at night?" daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "Stolen, then." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his to a light-house. science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "I have solved it." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Then you may entirely rely on me." generous with you in money matters.' autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for Where does the thing come from?' throat." note?" of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them any little problem which you may submit to me." "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to nonsense.' joking. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Entirely." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment Pool. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them points in connection with it which never have been, and probably in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and key of the affair now." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and the date of his supposed suicide." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole look upon these things in a different way." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in not, dad?" she asked. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" and put his glass in his pocket. nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the that I may have something better before very many minutes are brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "The murder was done with it." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few