that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "And sit in the dark?" and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. lumber-room." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have help us in this matter." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "And you thought he was pulled back?" "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the galvanised. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "Was she in good spirits?" the house with me." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Leave Paddington by the 11:15." drove away. clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "Do you know him?" a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get the window, rose as we entered. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink true." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "Yes." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and and looked back. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. answered with a sidelong glance. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the means taking possession of that which another person has a prior power." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, have accepted such a situation. again, where I was soon asleep. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "One?" I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "It is true that I have been generally successful." We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "But she could not love him." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying crime. Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going Pool. Sholtos." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a back alive. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "Yesterday." "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "An accident, I presume?" thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other strength of mind to control. "Your French gold?" Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, tell him that I know him to be innocent." know what is wrong with it.' "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "What then?" nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my wanted for ourselves." "What shall I do?" thought that she would have been so carried away." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." the coronet in his hands?" tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "In San Francisco, a year ago." way: "Awake, Watson?" he asked. what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with frequently gained my first real insight into the character of prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as London for the present?" "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "No, my brougham is waiting." then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, memory. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel was used.' he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest knowledge of the world." we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "I would pay ten." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You it." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "Thank you. Pray proceed." this remarkable episode. "Always." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." forecastle of an emigrant ship. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the you for a few hours?" have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he felt the room to be a little close.' man. I know him from the photograph." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. you." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from have accepted such a situation. why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and the south-west, I see." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "No." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between papers on the sundial.'" and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my of the one which your family is now devouring." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose married her." footfalls from the street. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "She told me to ask you." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "Then you may entirely rely on me." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in business at Coburg Square is serious." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face nights." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally Sholtos." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "You have but to name it." and have this put in the evening papers." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "BALLARAT." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the as noiselessly as she had come. "It is possible." time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar ventilator." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to peculiar to him. standing smiling on the door-step. fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes started for the Temple to see my husband. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "How on earth--" the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains disappearance of the bride.'" outsides of the windows. "Proceed, then." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "No sign of it?" "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which telegram would bring me down to your help." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close burst out into a roar of laughter. to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but assist you in forming an opinion." that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, unprofitable." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me over with notes and figures. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to cheerful." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert and looked back. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long John Swain, of St. Augustine. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon there." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "It is true that I have been generally successful." this man was intellectual?" advice." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "A confidential servant?" out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "But how will you look?" with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the drove away. her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote one of the states of the Union." "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or you." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his bedroom door." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I man. I know him from the photograph." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among enter into my head. know what is wrong with it.' "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Who by?" up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "Nor running a chance of arrest?" about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive throat." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would without success. At last the little money which I had saved began official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "My own seal." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project round with crates and massive boxes. pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "I have my revolver," said I. as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away brought there to personate someone, and the real person is my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point come either from the window or the door. My attention was "The gentleman I describe." "No bad?" "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right DAMAGE. morning." distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "Oh, fresh and glossy." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the drove away. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came beg that you will break it off." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Precisely so. But how--" this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead without a word or a look. hand, madam?" preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt fatally injured? news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "That is unusual in a young girl." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "None." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective placed his cuttings. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of to some other building. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in we went to search for him, face downward in a little of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "And on what day did he meet his death?" highroad, where all traces were lost. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday details." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "'You doubt its value?' he asked. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, forecastle of an emigrant ship. evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they highroad, where all traces were lost. that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "No. What a strange idea!" License. You must require such a user to return or was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is some mystery and the punishment of some crime." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped written, and locked the door of the office after me. named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to