coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation crowd. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy returned to France?" it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "She told me to ask you." "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "Yes, but only for you and me." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. them?" you found me to-night--and running through the front room she hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the know what is wrong with it.' The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "And Irene Adler?" "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "Never to return." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the together. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ this as likely?" "Not social, then?" "And why?" after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." your billet.' doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I business." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the than was visible to me." of a light. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I the side-table." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three would apply.' the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "And you can do nothing until then?" ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and national property. I was determined that the law should have its help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did strong reason behind." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." out of this horrible affair." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before upon a handsome competence. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were works. from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a Sutherland?" "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible likely to be some crony of the landlady's." when you have done it." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "Perfectly so." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, touch that coronet?' cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the His smile broadened. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For noise which awoke you from your sleep?" we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we man. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a Holmes' face clouded over. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "I am sure." and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence matters immensely." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or more solid." help us in this matter." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open delirious. south, for the country is more deserted there." "Very. But will he see it?" prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "Pray be precise as to details," said he. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been hardly wander." disappearance of the bride.'" "Ah!" sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country south, for the country is more deserted there." be.' "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter spark where all is dark to me." The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK is now desirous of getting those letters back." with the outside air!" jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who and effective." "How are you getting on?" "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "No, distinctly professional." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do Lestrade of Scotland Yard." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a the coronet in his hand?" professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my arrangements." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the the Friday. Was it to be in church?" evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "But we can't all be." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "You did not overhear what they said?" paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "One of the highest in England." "Not him." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "And for present expenses?" doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at I have it here in my museum." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his people in all walks of life. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been not, dad?" she asked. weary and pale-looking. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where you do it in twenty minutes!' A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon of a light. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your are windows in it, of course?" "I have a cab outside." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly This is what he says: It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still Pope's Court. "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling that he will be back before evening." introspective fashion. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "What have you to say now?" "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "When did it break out?" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded them?" from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "What do you mean?" mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "Dirty?" returned to France?" "You horrify me!" in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most Eyford." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out the child." stammered. "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "Oh, fresh and glossy." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a Young McCarthy must be got off, however." lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. on in his house." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we secret." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Married! When?" figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of the Assizes." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in it? Did I buy the geese off you?" deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "It is possible." window when the police appeared." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round have accepted such a situation. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began the station." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to fatally injured? "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' friends, not even his own brother. unprofitable." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger and no precautions can guard against." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the this Miss Turner." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, Mrs. Toller serenely. his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "And is that all?" making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, disappearance of these gems?" wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our joking. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. to-night's adventure." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "What do you mean?" out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I main points of my analysis." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "What can it mean?" I gasped. begun to whiten, even as mine has." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed fat-encircled eyes. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "'Yes, sir.' second window is the one that I jumped from." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is the morning and make my own way in the world.' Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I tassel actually lying upon the pillow. for securing the situation." I nodded again. "Yes, but only for you and me." see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. you." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of door?" right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "That you are never beaten." Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." ordinary clothes on?" very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "What is it, then--a fire?" common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be married her." "No." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal Again Holmes raved in the air. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous it with his own hands." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "And how have you succeeded?" error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "Stolen, then." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them very morning of my second wedding." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact humiliation." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to unprofitable." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made her also." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up dead, shall be safe with us." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was works. See paragraph 1.E below. anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "Then, as to money?" "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight wall." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "It was an hour's good drive." "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "By train from Waterloo." head. So long, then!" sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found sound at heart." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "I beg pardon." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I highroad, where all traces were lost. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." village inn over there?" unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "It is possible." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "'I shall certainly be there.' of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "But his left-handedness." "No. What a strange idea!" that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "So I am. Very much so." forebodings. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the me what he had done with the three missing stones. trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could subject to the trademark license, especially commercial about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar was not a bird to be seen there. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes