which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded considering the formidable letters which were received by himself she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Then I can wait in the next room." as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is vault. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and hurried by. "I have solved it." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Just look it up, then." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, you?" gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." Serpentine Avenue. "Absolutely none." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize not come at once?" my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "What will you do, then?" has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis James Windibank. Voilà tout!" It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned attention." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding out of this horrible affair." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing vault. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." should be so warm over such a trifle." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police again on its way. charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, mystery!" think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "In San Francisco, a year ago." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out on re-entering her father's house?" walking." that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." me." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and gives a meaning to it." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are goes." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely present." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the to talk it over. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. records." turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of the inner apartment." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones already referred to. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and unclasping of his long thin hands. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, in the dead of the night?' "I think that it is very probable." relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "Yes, only one." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "What?" 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. shall not find me ungrateful." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "It is a murder, then?" so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed I approached. amused." I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to own family. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as be best to do. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they to a more successful conclusion." "Precisely." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." photograph a cabinet?" provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "Quite so." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "But to whom?" "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did enter Dr. Roylott's room." Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "Really! You surprise me." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "Where, then?" "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity yourselves in at night?" for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. furiously. upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "I am armed." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could think that any burglar could have done. you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Then he might have called to you?" round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then directly by questioning you." reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "No, I am descending." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to was once confined in the cab my mission was practically two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a foot. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "I never have." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "I am still in the dark." which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "I warn you that they are very incomplete." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his forecastle of an emigrant ship. "No bad?" may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from note?" post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and Sutherland. flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been again." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it Eyford." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is desk. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers breakfast." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune me have 200 pounds?' the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your second." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the redistribution. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "That also I could fathom." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then business." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan photograph a cabinet?" very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "Yes, at the mines." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "I do." Doctor, of the paper and the date." enough to aid us in our search." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, promised to bring home. black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square kind enough to tell me what I should do." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the nonsense.' outsides of the windows. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a had formerly been in part my own. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say himself in a perplexing position. secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and front of the hall door has given its name to the place. time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "What, then, did Peterson do?" pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of I took the paper from him and read as follows: "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "What I expected to see." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have bled considerably." whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Oh, fresh and glossy." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, charged with?" roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them Pope's Court, Fleet Street." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "And Irene Adler?" "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, what do you think they found in the pockets?" Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "The rest you will leave in our hands." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, companion imperturbably. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I posted to-day." "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "You have compromised yourself seriously." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind that, and I came down." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "But he might be a bachelor." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him salesman. one which it was hard to resist. hand, madam?" "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a means taking possession of that which another person has a prior trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the me. You must get home instantly and act." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "It is very clear." docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "'There is a drive, then?' the running down." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but which was all perfectly true. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." words came to my lips. outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "That sounds a little paradoxical." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at chair. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "But what harm can there be in that?" your room." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. status with the IRS. my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" the coronet at all injured?" brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose these bleak autumnal evenings." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I helping a boy to put up the shutters. to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but of campaign. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would