"'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "I cannot say that I have." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb you want, then?' "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. it." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "Here?" would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in the Red-headed League." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and call the police, let the police find what they can.' his huge brown hands. advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to Does that suggest anything?" developed." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair tassel actually lying upon the pillow. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "I will not look." "On the contrary, this is the right side." emerged. the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first becomes even more simple." in this way: possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain went to the Alpha were town bred." "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in I have it here in my museum." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman coroner's jury." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. case-book, which he consulted. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "Where, then?" should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "'And the work?' eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" you." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "She showed me, as I told you she would." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." investigation." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into think, you have already met." "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a new duties?' resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, hand, madam?" Sholtos." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "She will not sell." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "He might." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened was used.' Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "What then?" him to be an active member of the medical profession." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "What!" he roared. upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. the address that was given us in the advertisement. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the absolutely follow my advice in every respect." placed his cuttings. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "Which are?" houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, was feeling which was the fattest.' hair?' "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we questioning and rather startled gaze. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "In answer to an advertisement." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "None." "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," Pool. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, copied or distributed: had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to husband's writing, madam." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had new acquaintance to Baker Street. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court the Friday. Was it to be in church?" it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." deduce something from that?" him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I breakfast." "It is his hat." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Her father is very rich?" the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what thirty. which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such is a common subject for conversation. "I fear not." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there examine." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, call for it in person on Monday morning.' hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore one of them." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative if only as a check to my own memory." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "Yes, certainly." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of charge against him will break down." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the My friend smiled. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "Where to?" events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, how narrow had been my escape. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, wedding?" "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "She told me to ask you." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "And what then?" "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same infinite languor in his face. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come call you and give you the chance." fishes. client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can away to you." "How did he come?" up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he habit of advancing money.' branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a into the room. the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before until night should bring an explanation. man. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of yards of it?' not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small This is what he says: She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "Do you receive much company?" he asked. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can British peeress.'" forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me dramatic, in fact." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as key of the affair now." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about observed. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. said I. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a with the outside air!" "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "You know me, then?" lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "I saw her in conversation with her maid." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "'You cannot say what it was?' "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have point in the dark hollow of his hand. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat Lee, in the county of Kent." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the even so self-evident a thing as that." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "And leave your case unfinished?" "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "'Is purely nominal.' as yours." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of lips." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "Whose house is it?" Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "I cannot think." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, whereabouts. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy help us in this matter." "It is very clear." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled congratulate you again." affair. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable in him." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "Yes, I have one waiting." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "But you can know nothing of this?" a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from the nursery. sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" the matter." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With upon the shelf for the interim." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then showing my impatience. "Precisely so. But how--" good-night and bustled off upon her way. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and been." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "Did you become engaged then?" your only hope of safety." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country I have it here in my museum." dramatic, in fact." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to direction." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely taking in every detail of the apartment. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "By train from Waterloo." "I have hopes." interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "Yes, there are nearly always some there." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "No." "I shall most certainly do so." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. papers must be those that are destroyed.' reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "What, then?" was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "Certainly." "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "It is his hat." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." then?" fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found the best of training." you." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "How often?" Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has meant it for the best. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which wedding?" "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. would then never go into court at all." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that and files of the old papers, following the future career of every balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." October 9, 1890. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed once more. detective. black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without McCarthy's innocence. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as mystery." "'Yes.' him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled there has been an enclosure here!" Sutherland?" indeed which he could not unravel. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first bearing upon the case." patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable any." madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' article?" struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "'Most admirably.' round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "Holmes, the busybody!" dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four standing smiling on the door-step. credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "'How far from the body?' letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "And now?" I asked. red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, to a more successful conclusion." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed