"Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist if I call to-morrow?" which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Was your sister dressed?" "Not in the least." envelope. envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the other, as fresh and trim as possible. "We were both in the photograph." "The knees of his trousers." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of closely." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant noble correspondent could be. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "And you can do nothing until then?" only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at daring than any effort of the imagination." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "What, then, did Peterson do?" Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might hour." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "By no means." prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, had picked up in the wood. "Frequently." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day was a lad." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest of." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated appeared upon the scene." Pope's Court. straightened it out again. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and the best of training." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "Only as much as we can deduce." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should a room. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's himself in a perplexing position. "'Very good.' streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "Stolen, then." are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' yet." "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "In answer to an advertisement." depend upon your compliance." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply and it need not interfere very much with one's other attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. paper in the air. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "Yesterday." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it any." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "She will not sell." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the you?" 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "I say that I have solved it." prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in had died away into the silence from which it rose. across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass Surrey." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "How did you deduce the select?" "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "You think so, too?" "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "In what way?" asked Holmes. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "You horrify me!" to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "'Where to?' with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid yet." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "But she could not love him." as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "And why?" fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Absolutely none." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down to a light-house. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." Project Gutenberg-tm works. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "'Ten to two.' "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." dramatic, in fact." "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "Where, indeed?" "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an knowledge of the world." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "And why in hopes?" "I shall be delighted." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in was used.' "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. carried out of court." "Not yet." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the leaning back in his chair. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "Oh, the cause is excellent!" asked. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "No." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "Well, it is a possible supposition." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "That's no good." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband even of instruction." morning." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you fasten all the windows?" to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "He disappeared so suddenly." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "I do." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary the side-table." the side-table." mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call I nodded again. "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "No, but the enclosure is." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "Oh, yes, easily." leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and to a light-house. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the memory. of it with the greatest attention. eat it." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. and effective." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass dates and names. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "But how?" turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the test if we have an answer to our advertisement." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon that you saw all that I did." know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life Stoke Moran." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell I shall communicate with you." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually train from Paddington which would bring you there at about upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "Dirty?" and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "Then, how do you know?" eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be very morning of my second wedding." "But it has twice been burgled." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "I will try. What is it?" "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an was a perfect sample of the class. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the might have a private word with us. "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low joking. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "Yes." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "Yes, sir." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic IS The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that my friend's incisive reasoning. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our Gutenberg-tm License. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "If so, much may have happened between." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the States. "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked be.' a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more way in." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case think, you have already met." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "But not more so than I to find you." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera time." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a down. page at http://pglaf.org so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a the ceiling. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining address. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "Pray continue your narrative." dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by occupations.' leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with likely to be some crony of the landlady's." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My time." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "Here?" the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining were new raised from a basin. upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over fled together." he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "Well." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with were new raised from a basin. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw memory. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was to surprise her." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Not yet." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "What then?" Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "Very much so." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in some city in a dream. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a annoyance, but no jest. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not ran thus: Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its when your master had gone out." "What do you mean?" "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we