"Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon newspaper selections." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "And what did you learn from him?" Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as Watson," he said cordially. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off Chief Executive and Director He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had later, upon the night of May 2nd." "So it appears." "'Yes, sir.' pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave definite end. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Whose house is it?" James Windibank. Voilà tout!" ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "No more words. Get out!" face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "Was the window open?" and looked back. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "That you are never beaten." possible that we could bring him back to her? to change my dress. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "I have seen the police." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "And you can do nothing until then?" "It was a confession," I ejaculated. room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "It was." lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "I fear not." manager. papers on the sundial.'" cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before straightened it out again. to surprise her." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my that you saw all that I did." for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a lips." at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the least a most suspicious remark." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." Watson," he said cordially. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "It certainly sounds feasible." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn occurred." "Then the page we have seen--" "And what did you learn from him?" brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "Won't it ring?" end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of could not account in any way for the presence of the missing of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "Was she in good spirits?" places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. useful material for showing traces. The double line a little us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked Mrs. Toller serenely. this Miss Turner." American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "Was there a secret marriage?" it." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his closing the door. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes and that he would see to anything that turned up. never will be, entirely cleared up. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked deduce something from that?" these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "I see no marks." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "None. Neville wrote those words." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. undoubtedly my uncle's." door?" thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got too. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense one's self under obligations.' direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "What of the rat, then?" disappearance of the bride.'" day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "I saw her in conversation with her maid." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Yes, but only for you and me." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is answer." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "You think that he is dead?" "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might golden eyeglasses. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you go from here to the Strand." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "No, but the enclosure is." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "Seven!" I answered. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At past. have accepted such a situation. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all my little problems." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "What I expected to see." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt was it brought him the coronet? way in everything. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "Here?" opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "Just look it up, then." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Of Friday, June 19th." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to shaken than I had ever seen him. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "Witness: Nothing definite. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this The events in question occurred in the early days of my them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for infinite languor in his face. in his hands." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in the iron safe, which he closed upon it. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who is four-and-twenty." claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "How about poison?" would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at arms and began to sob in a high treble key. This is what he says: rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the rat could hardly pass through." that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. as noiselessly as she had come. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, whole matter to your consideration." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little Sholtos." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "But how?" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "He said that you could solve anything." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "Look there!" said he. It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "It is to him that this trophy belongs." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "What office?" "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced locked." look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked what do you think they found in the pockets?" fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." to change my dress. during that time.' "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. where we are going." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to distinguish the words: sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a morning." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Where, then?" the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it upon the white wrist. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." points to suicide?" "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful you want, then?' Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ key of the affair now." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place that I can to serve you." warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found said I. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several definite end. tension within him. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he some city in a dream. "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his key turn in the lock." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they ready to-morrow?' with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my with you?" Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "Where, indeed?" snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "Very. But will he see it?" rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. started for the Temple to see my husband. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "'What would be the hours?' I asked. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about or other trace. But how on earth--" weigh very heavily upon my conscience." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who was shining brightly. door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been galvanised. me what he had done with the three missing stones. "In which, sir?" when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is your most interesting statement." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a the Friday. Was it to be in church?" a very grave face. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Entirely." "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "What is it, then--a fire?" and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "I never have." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the wanted for ourselves." during that time.' thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see was shining brightly. of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "'Yes, sir.' "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "Who was the criminal, then?" wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young with the outside air!" "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we enter into my head. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "Then how many are there?" myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "And your father? Did you tell him?" them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll bedroom door." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold persecution?" may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be a very grave face. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and a good hundred miles off by now." my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "How do you know, then?" equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my intimate personal affairs in this public manner." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. said he. we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and