friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable believe that I should never have any practice at all. "You will not go there first?" "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover about. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. returning from some small jollification and was making his way Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "Certainly, madam." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "And what then?" the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But have been better. It is all right." "But what will you do?" who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a Lee, in the county of Kent." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' spare." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday my room." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "'There is a drive, then?' "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he Arthur Conan Doyle "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms side. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to sofa. This way, please!" the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where foot. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or of the way of danger. and I shall be with you presently." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in the window, rose as we entered. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a direction." conclusions. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying morning." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp the station." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the the driver. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are be best to do. "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily suspect him." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to mysterious business." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is very old mansion. Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "Then how many are there?" dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord Henry Baker is a member." II. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "'Ten to two.' whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "What have you to say now?" Cross for the Continent." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "It is very kind of you." look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the awkward doing business with an alias." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there drove away. touch that coronet?' impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor singular points about the case. What did the police think of the extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no the roots. "And your mother is alive?" particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and past. "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and Miss Holder?" strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing test if we have an answer to our advertisement." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "How are you getting on?" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "Pray continue your narrative." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He Farm upon the left." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "One?" sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "Yes." afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was she might be summoned. one of the states of the Union." when your master had gone out." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "And is that all?" either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Then I do not see the point." of campaign. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the this remarkable episode. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left bell. Holmes whistled. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the weigh very heavily upon my conscience." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "No. His orders were to stay in the house." bears upon the case?" posted to-day." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our the matter." of." might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "You think that he is dead?" "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to when you have done it." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, absorbing." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' searched, without anything being found which could incriminate bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly already referred to. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "I think that it is very probable." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in started for the Temple to see my husband. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from retorted upon me, and I on you." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out the general public were present, then?" among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "Perhaps we may make them less so." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "How long did she speak to this Alice?" William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might could gather together that I was able to avert another public permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and one of them." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are the inquest, and which are worth considering." with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the I shall continue with my miserable story. assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always disappearance of the bride.'" have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I roused himself from his reverie. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and any little problem which you may submit to me." placed his cuttings. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" Pope's Court. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the were wasted." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. answer." "And how have you succeeded?" least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father persecution?" thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back see a sister of mine apply for." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless keep the flames under. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the time." it." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. extraordinary contortions. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which to me. across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the more terrible than the truth. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a man. I know him from the photograph." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Really! You surprise me." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love I nodded again. Where does the thing come from?' 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt upon the sideboard." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic skylight. known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' purpose equally well?" "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a highly," said Holmes. "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "Pray do so." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with whatever might befall. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has gone before you can get him to hospital." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with pictures, libraries, or plate. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of village inn over there?" there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the nonsense.' values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the direction." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his the coroner come to?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right important." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I four million human beings all jostling each other within the were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the nonsense.' As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' emerged. directly by questioning you." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me held up the lantern and gazed about him. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, with you?" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "Indeed! Whose, then?" great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: conversation I have gathered that they have been married about Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so