a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project stepfather?" already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his secret." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to morning." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "And Miss Sutherland?" by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself went to the Alpha were town bred." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for cup of tea. the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. think you a quite exceptional woman." make me his representative both with the servants and with the understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to place, I think that there is good ground to think that the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" respectable self." "No, distinctly professional." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with woven round him. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late whatever might befall. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in and capable of preserving a secret.' permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those intimate personal affairs in this public manner." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a such person." your troubles." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Do you know him?" yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "'Then let me do so?' just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to to have that photograph." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "Well, some hundreds of times." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "And how?" dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "What then?" pictures, libraries, or plate. "What shall I do?" 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious Watson," he said cordially. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could DAMAGE. window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive it means?" "In answer to an advertisement." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Yes." six. Come in!" "My dear Holmes!" time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Come in!" said Holmes. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "No sign of it?" "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." enter into my head. "Yes, from Horsham." may have an influence upon European history." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good without a word or a look. cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "A confidential servant?" the devil!" Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty green of the new foliage. has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms said he. was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. Project Gutenberg-tm works. practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "Well." what I may call a really hard day's work." would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to habit of advancing money.' forehead. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause gbnewby@pglaf.org shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured here." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "I say it is." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your ways of our fellow-men." in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned in darkness. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be photograph?" unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his murdered man." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his someone who had been in Australia." good-night and bustled off upon her way. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of must compliment you." benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. friend's singular character. was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the the Friday. Was it to be in church?" interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "I have come for advice." "But how?" life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the this poor creature." table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. whether it answered to the description of any of their thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "BALLARAT." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an I took the paper from him and read as follows: been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a know that the truth is known." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have furiously. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the Arthur Conan Doyle salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on answered with a sidelong glance. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "Pray continue your narrative." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features introspective fashion. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "What office?" beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, intimate personal affairs in this public manner." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and and the whole place is in a blaze." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away and put his glass in his pocket. with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "I assure you that I am in your hands." pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular the room while you explain this matter?" terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Then he might have called to you?" which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" voice, changing her seat as requested. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I just ask you whether you had heard it.' postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can walking." better in every way that they should make their position a little "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's you found me to-night--and running through the front room she interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots Dr. Gregory B. Newby showing my impatience. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers walking." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "And how did you find out?" I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him children over to America with him, so that I found myself without have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. a suggestive one." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "I will try. What is it?" almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible prisoner's face. "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return sooner or later she must fall a victim. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or manager. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a be.' 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his fuss that is made over them." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "Ah, but I was recommended to you." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." when your master had gone out." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than Holmes." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced with the outside air!" house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like his wife has ceased to love him." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." for the market.' serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the that you saw all that I did." "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest is acting for the best. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "That is possible." voice, changing her seat as requested. Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he miles off. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "I shall be delighted." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "'Yes, it was gone.' have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country of campaign. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt should be taken.' "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "'Very good.' impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Where, indeed?" and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "Her father is very rich?" matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, definite end. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black infinite languor in his face. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, murdered man." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to third from London." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and official police." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you from you?" them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head learned something! Where are the gems?" "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. it." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, ceremony." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the danger is over." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number generous with you in money matters.' seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Yes." reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "Will you go?" "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "I cannot think." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the and I shall be with you presently." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all of." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "And why in hopes?" "To the police?" of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "She will not sell." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I lost nothing by them." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father have established a very serious case against the son of the "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it grasp, he hurried from the room. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, memory. expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "Stolen." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You completely overtopped every other consideration that we both change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been