"Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that the very morning of the wedding." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Nearly eleven." of them has the shutters up.' head. So long, then!" developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional side. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray suggested at once that there must be a communication between the the very morning of the wedding." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be despair." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the seven miles from Eyford Station.' often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the sentimental considerations in the background which would induce say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" me, and I could not think that his explanation of the upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." that threaten you." "'I have already given you my word.' "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "And I say east," said my patient. cigars in their mouths. fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my forehead. and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and entirely lost his self-respect." Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, lamp. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "Witness: It was. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the and your relations to her." gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "Of what day?" I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But look upon these things in a different way." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of considering the formidable letters which were received by himself into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any during that time.' Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. o'clock is it?" touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "And now?" I asked. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air spare." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." unkempt, staring out at me. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "Then I am your man." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. works. See paragraph 1.E below. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His out." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland awkward doing business with an alias." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." His name is Francis Prosper." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "No good news?" held up the lantern and gazed about him. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you is so. I know all about McCarthy." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' direction." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." cigars in their mouths. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Was she in good spirits?" interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and only touch the interest." less than 26s. 4d. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." been." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I disappearance of these gems?" adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got in his power. and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "His face fell immediately. We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now tail." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "But what harm can there be in that?" "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which night.' said he. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so fait accompli?" Farm upon the left." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated call the police, let the police find what they can.' with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which congenial hunt. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "'Never,' said I. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "I am sure." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "It is a murder, then?" anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry you understand?" see me here to avoid scandal." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that assist you in forming an opinion." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, one's self under obligations.' and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "It certainly sounds feasible." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to 'please.'" idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a even of instruction." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." The summons was a brief and urgent one. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man page at http://pglaf.org rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can persecution?" dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. Doctor, of the paper and the date." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely notes," he said. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from hereditary King of Bohemia." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He such person." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a the very morning of the wedding." "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' could not account in any way for the presence of the missing been lifted and conveyed somewhere." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer British peeress.'" "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to do you make of it all?" "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us fattened it expressly for you.' Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a eavesdroppers?' why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. his huge brown hands. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "Nothing?" sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite late." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I spare." reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "We must have a cab." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything the house with me." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any evidence," I remarked. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "And Irene Adler?" within hail.' cost them two and thirty pounds." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over ordinary clothes on?" entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' are, and they are waiting for us." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank past. stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the strong and stiff." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed despair." "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "I say that I have solved it." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the placed his cuttings. when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Is he quiet?" "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing he. "And what then?" some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those I held the little printed slip to the light. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "Indeed! Whose, then?" In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "But the mystery?" He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "I should wish to." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, dramatic, in fact." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "Tired-looking or fresh?" "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "And is that all?" in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little this unhappy family?" Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "I answered that I had not. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "You have compromised yourself seriously." "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what death." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone head. So long, then!" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you case before our client came into the room." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand presented which may be striking and bizarre without being of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we me." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of very old mansion. utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual rooms." address. "I see no marks." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "I cannot say that I have." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "'And the work?' house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "'Ample.' had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is This is what he says: to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to woven round him. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty this Miss Turner." "'What do you call purely nominal?' advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come generous with you in money matters.' inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Then I do not see the point." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an said he, "my real name is James Ryder." before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: girl said." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "I should be immensely obliged to you." find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed good for you to do.' chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "Where did you address your letters, then?" "To ruin me." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Very murderous indeed." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of retorted upon me, and I on you." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "Very well, sir. And this stone?" you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of I think that I could be of assistance to you." singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "'Yes, it was gone.' have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others appeal." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "I cannot think." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, reach." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "What can it mean?" I gasped. Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. of the efforts of the United States government and of the better