I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I when you have done it." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "I was sure that I might rely on you." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I tapping his fingers upon the table. "What then?" the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we which it had come upon my father." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that his face. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the should be so warm over such a trifle." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, your bag." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "And leave your case unfinished?" he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never bearing upon the case." and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "The landlord of the Alpha." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. do.' unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer fashion which was peculiar to him. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, as noiselessly as she had come. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural been deceived." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." my special province." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon was not a bird to be seen there. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "I was mad--insane." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies right! Sit down and let us talk it over." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "The Cedars?" We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael look dissatisfied." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed that you can jump it.' full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an constraint." waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, Miss Holder?" she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all it." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate the nursery. thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all the very letters. But what is this written above them?' waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker newspaper selections." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it that "Then what has happened to him?" closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Of Friday, June 19th." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the this remarkable episode. "You have the photograph?" "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking conduct the inquiry." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all their singular warning or token before them when starting upon I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before trying to your nerves." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was vault. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and at my own good fortune. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "I say it is." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Ah!" the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "I am sure." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." any little problem which you may submit to me." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, everything which you would wish to know." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can the King without delay." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after knowledge of the world." considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. fear." "'Where could I find him?' be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of for the market.' and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "And you don't know his address?" distinguish the words: endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, little trying to do so much typewriting?" "I know where it is." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." works. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the The note was undated, and without either signature or address. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "There are none." second." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business carried out of court." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the danger is over." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before straighten it?" "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the have not had my rubber." "She will not sell." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "But you were on a friendly footing?" "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of morning." disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "'You cannot say what it was?' "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all one of them." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the invisible to me," I remarked. page at http://pglaf.org Edgeware Road. far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table the morning and make my own way in the world.' concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "Well, some hundreds of times." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from was a perfect sample of the class. "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself for the market.' work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, extraordinary contortions. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Perhaps I have." brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. all-comprehensive glances. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "And the cigar-holder?" but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it coat-tails." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling read it out to me." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." should be taken.' upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' and glanced through. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No definite end. "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would miles off. "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out shall use the carriage to-night." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his Sholtos." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "I am sure." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck answered with a sidelong glance. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "And what did you learn from him?" any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant individual and becomes the badge of a society." We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. Edgeware Road. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "Your sister is dead, then?" inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged something of him before." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "I should wish to." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check Street. front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary long narrative. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the and shall probably return to London by the evening train." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "The King of Scandinavia." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the to a more successful conclusion." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "What! You do not mean bodies?" which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "What I expected to see." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "I would give my fortune to have them back." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said advice." "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "One of his hands." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to bird of prey. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. just ask you whether you had heard it.' door?" "I would give my fortune to have them back." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "Why, what do you mean?" vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." Munro.' "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "It is a murder, then?" explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest power." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you companion. "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I stepfather?" stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was bearing upon the case." however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible telegram would bring me down to your help." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" minor matters until to-morrow." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over letters?" scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a voice. blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be that you saw all that I did." feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a is a common subject for conversation. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the him, that man would not have given me such complete information ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "Your sister is dead, then?" violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over them?" Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been sparkled upon his finger. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "Well." should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working in a very precise fashion." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It words came to my lips. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps very morning of my second wedding." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or Mary, has deserted me." I shall communicate with you." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should feature." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. gone. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond have established a very serious case against the son of the "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage think that any burglar could have done. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put hair?' "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the door?" situation." Holmes rather sternly. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "What then?" foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something the Red-headed League." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "Your sister is dead, then?" a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "My dear Holmes!" base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "But what harm can there be in that?" refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight