"Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and six. Come in!" but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "I cannot tell." "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." lectures into a series of tales." "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have pierced for earrings?" "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "I should be immensely obliged to you." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up prepare for the new role I have to play." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If the Red-headed League." "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss head. So long, then!" It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not at my remark. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his in the port of London." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a me. beg that you will break it off." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where trying to your nerves." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest fluttered off among the others. asked. brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "Perhaps we may make them less so." trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "How did he come?" danger is over." bird of prey. rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "Witness: It was. "And on what day did he meet his death?" "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps was already answered. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. obstinate." central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting in a very precise fashion." purpose equally well?" "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "Nothing?" do." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they see me here to avoid scandal." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "I know where it is." Pool. shaken than I had ever seen him. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "What, then, did Peterson do?" fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, outbreak?" "'Tell me all about it,' said I. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler amused." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been money should be paid at once.' houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would enough to aid us in our search." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for entirely lost his self-respect." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "'Entirely.' surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest morning." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I recall any case within my experience which looked at the first and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare mystery." collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce away to you." through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. test if we have an answer to our advertisement." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's whether it answered to the description of any of their relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "Oh, yes, easily." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "No, my brougham is waiting." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late was shining brightly. "I am sure." "Of what day?" "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "None." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, manager. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms ceremony." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Ha! you find it so?" lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "Pray do so." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, silent! Oh, he will be silent!' material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" the station." result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "'You doubt its value?' he asked. the King without delay." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "Yes, it would be as well." bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. certainly not very gracious." your most interesting statement." I nodded to show that I had heard. very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church emerged. up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the you." over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining what I may call a really hard day's work." anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "I am sure." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets mystery may be cleared along those lines." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. that you wished to speak to me?' Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew during that time.' done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "Quite so. She has her freedom." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "How are you getting on?" for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "Yes." way in." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is some mystery and the punishment of some crime." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how who was a member of your goose club." cigar and let me expound." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real arms and began to sob in a high treble key. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after nothing with him." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a away into the river." "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. the very letters. But what is this written above them?' imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of I nodded again. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the presented more singular features than that which was associated vanished into the darkness. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "What can it mean?" I gasped. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "Yes, there are nearly always some there." side. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me presented which may be striking and bizarre without being poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "Yes, all." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which made him keep the appointment." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to said I. "You have a clue?" leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." to-morrow." corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. was a lad." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" fear." room?" conduct the inquiry." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a new acquaintance to Baker Street. step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at pictures, libraries, or plate. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to good for you to do.' "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. was keenly on my guard against him. started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of in him." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my one of them." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question companion quietly. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "It is true that I have been generally successful." affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it power." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the me. You must get home instantly and act." between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in village inn over there?" company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of round with crates and massive boxes. to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned call it cruel." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a golden eyeglasses. opened the door, and slipped through. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." my former friend and companion. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "It is to him that this trophy belongs." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me said he. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and your room." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "'And the work?' "It is his hat." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed was used.' galvanised. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must me have 200 pounds?' dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, characteristics, but those are the more obvious." front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." ceremony." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast what these perils are?" however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel the south-west, I see." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in of a light. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, nights." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his hair?' go back?" had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the three fields round his house, and there he would take his had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy suspect him." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat was keenly on my guard against him. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down the roots. charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "The best possible." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "I am still in the dark." and glanced through. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "I am all attention, madam." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "'Ample.' which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to you." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "I shall most certainly do so." we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Married! When?" quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a sentimental considerations in the background which would induce With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows Pope's Court, Fleet Street." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock up this clue while it is still hot." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, horse could go." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will opened the door, and slipped through. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in residence of the great financier. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." to-night's adventure." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three with the outside air!" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "Dr. Becher's." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel