without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face believe that I should never have any practice at all. "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are annoyance, but no jest. appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Where, then?" have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may paper in the air. The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "'Yes, it was gone.' which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. wedding?" served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work bill, which interests me deeply." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, call the police, let the police find what they can.' to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "The murder was done with it." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, key turn in the lock." servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both and your relations to her." investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "You have compromised yourself seriously." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "This photograph!" my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As to his chemical studies. "Here?" side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the prison!" his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, he. which our visitor detailed to us. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "But it has twice been burgled." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "How on earth--" "Deserted you?" before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "I cannot say that I have." see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' and I shall be with you presently." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the entirely devoid of interest." tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and meant." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham to-night." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "Where, then, is my wife?" very old mansion. Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as absorbing." "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. imbecility!" he cried. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in and it need not interfere very much with one's other "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "10th. John Swain cleared. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous me where it went to?" once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and it." disappearance of the bride.'" is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' in a friendly supper." daring than any effort of the imagination." money should be paid at once.' had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, of note-paper. It read in this fashion: should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "To ruin me." charged with?" correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, locked." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple now. It seems that there had been some informality about their in one or two places in England?' him to go away.' is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "To an English lawyer named Norton." "It's nothing of the kind." centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "She walked into the breakfast-room." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in long narrative. "Very truly yours, "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, upon a handsome competence. overpowering excitement and concern. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. said I. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." and the colonel ushered me in. "Who was the criminal, then?" "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs 1.F. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled my friend's incisive reasoning. way: while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "That is unusual in a young girl." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "That's no good." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, forehead. never to learn it at all." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "And you can do nothing until then?" that the gas is not laid on in his house?" successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "He might." "Absolutely none." "No more words. Get out!" on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "A confidential servant?" papers on the sundial.'" closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into garden below. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and cup of tea. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated do." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Never to return." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a were wasted." "Nothing?" that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." outside. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some behind me. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "The rest you will leave in our hands." been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. crowd. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo ventilator." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will drawing your inferences." telegram would bring me down to your help." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I jewels which you have stolen?' instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw to go into your room and bar your shutters?" his face which made him a very different person to the round, into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "But he might be a bachelor." test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "Upon what point?" "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and himself. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, companion. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to new acquaintance to Baker Street. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "And how?" time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from had picked up in the wood. window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" imbecility!" he cried. "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "Ample." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must ran thus: that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has made his money." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns will he say when he returns?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim be best to do. it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable matter." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my question you as to those details which seem to me to be most experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when gone before you can get him to hospital." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "Well?" "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he to change my dress. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in matter." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was presented which may be striking and bizarre without being at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every some terrible trap for her." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "'Not at all. I only doubt--' me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know second." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "One of his hands." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I have not had my rubber." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "But your client--" jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and could not have written that. It is the German who is so Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to his forehead." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "And I say east," said my patient. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted not use it unless it is absolutely needed." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was in the dead of the night?' problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "Nothing." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, through." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "What can it mean?" I gasped. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "I am following you closely," I answered. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "The landlord of the Alpha." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" all-comprehensive glances. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of burst out into a roar of laughter. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "That is it on the dressing-table." "I promise," said Holmes. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my must be when I saw the door open.' not come at once?" really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." a very grave face. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "Never to return." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "But you were on a friendly footing?" business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the round and wave him away like that.' on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view be. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he certainly do as you advise." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "No." other, as fresh and trim as possible. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Pray do so." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission with the outside air!" the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional your troubles." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "And how did you verify them?" "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the becomes even more simple."