my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had congenial hunt. of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the this truth that in these little records of our cases which you week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke cigars in their mouths. there when the Rucastles went away." "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' to-morrow." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "And on what day did he meet his death?" without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be once more. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their future lives." never came back." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the affection." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and Count Von Kramm." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different been deceived." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, shoulder. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. you." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "Because he was handy and would come cheap." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "But how did you gain them?" corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing window when the police appeared." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His the side-table." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into really the only notable feature about the thing." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom forebodings. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a lumber-room." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "You have a clue?" look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a such attractions and accomplishments?' quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a cause to be." "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be his fortune, and I went back to pa. think, you have already met." "Was your sister dressed?" unprecedented a position." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He Count Von Kramm." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the you do it in twenty minutes!' of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. derbies." to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "'Where could I find him?' "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "He slept on the premises." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his not as remarkable as your advertisement." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "Was the window open?" "Yes." "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to I leave." in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "Do you know him?" of campaign. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "No, my brougham is waiting." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and to tackle the facts." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he leave you to your papers for a little." almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or returning from some small jollification and was making his way "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "But she will refuse." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Who was the criminal, then?" it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six again on its way. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "Nothing?" "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of like that before?" that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. Holmes' thin, eager face. remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the cost them two and thirty pounds." "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney in darkness. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "No more words. Get out!" just ask you whether you had heard it.' out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "Upon what point?" It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He definite end. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to photograph?" cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "The King of Scandinavia." "In San Francisco, a year ago." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "'Certainly,' I answered. the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Not I." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Arthur Conan Doyle the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must here and I will read it to you: "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found certainly do as you advise." should be taken.' floor. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of with frightened eyes at his accuser. this poor creature." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" skylight. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution works. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off matter." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered when your master had gone out." "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "You horrify me!" she might be summoned. my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I arrangements." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey foresight and the moral retrogression?" freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since Holmes' thin, eager face. leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given child?' "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just against a man in the prime of life?" left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for and wait." them?" schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent anything to a woman, for she would have her way." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan were wasted." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" whereabouts. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations there were so many in the whole country as were brought together footfalls from the street. Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "There are none." me upon any point which I do not make clear." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business views." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my to miss it." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. without success. At last the little money which I had saved began wedding?" There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "Yes." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his down. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for locked." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "Deserted you?" The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a business." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, emerged. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on your most interesting statement." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp side. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, October 9, 1890. me. the loss of it. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who way in." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is in a very precise fashion." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then good-night and bustled off upon her way. the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "I am armed." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! My friend smiled. ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue that?' am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "Yes, sir." buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves brandy and water within his reach. "10th. John Swain cleared. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in a suggestive one." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" whatever might befall. too. more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "And that is--" that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "And I say east," said my patient. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through and that he would see to anything that turned up. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "'What are you doing there?' he asked. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had outside." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "Imitated." purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "To an English lawyer named Norton." again, where I was soon asleep. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can Serpentine Avenue. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every my special province." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "'You cannot say what it was?' fuss that is made over them." fuss that is made over them." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "May I see it?" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of security.' "But she will refuse." back into the street. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates detective. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it despair." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the http://www.gutenberg.net more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange absolutely follow my advice in every respect." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" such person." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of time." faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had strode off upon his way. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after matters immensely." passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case you." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "No." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm morning." "How did he come?" "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his questionable one." train.' his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "One?" erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope and I shall be with you presently." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you breakfast." "Murdered?" leave you to your papers for a little." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "I warn you that they are very incomplete." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that spark where all is dark to me." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded Sutherland. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "'Yes, it was gone.' "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is you." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under call it cruel." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough possible that we could bring him back to her? Leadenhall Street--and--" of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling.