twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "VIOLET HUNTER." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I Edgeware Road. gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a present." "You saw the ventilator, too?" cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "'What then?' I asked. soul! here is her carriage at the door." "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram before, for it was considerably after midnight. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce the station." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "Ample." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" I nodded to show that I had heard. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and was not a bird to be seen there. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' closely." one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It gentleman's clothes. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do I held the little printed slip to the light. have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I the Red-headed League." you, my dear young lady?' dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "To ruin me." shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few to that open window." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We fatally injured? round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "I never have." "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, you?' "I fear not." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of that you saw all that I did." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "No. What a strange idea!" "Certainly." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of could not have written that. It is the German who is so pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "I am armed." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you wife's character?" way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "But not more so than I to find you." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Yes, they were peculiar boots." struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, people don't know." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not helping a boy to put up the shutters. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "But the mystery?" civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. be. parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. hardly wander." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "I was sure that I might rely on you." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and of them has the shutters up.' could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "But his left-handedness." before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a least a most suspicious remark." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally tassel actually lying upon the pillow. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to promised to bring home. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "And you can do nothing until then?" de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his comes from the middle window." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' good-night and bustled off upon her way. newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "Well, it is a possible supposition." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "He said that you could solve anything." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is interests were the same as his." you." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' hand, madam?" "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. night.' said he. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey for securing the situation." to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent promised to bring home. with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that front of the hall door has given its name to the place. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt over his head with a sweet womanly caress. wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "How long did she speak to this Alice?" closely." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! ordinary clothes on?" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his success. "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the Gutenberg-tm License. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination was not a bird to be seen there. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. noting anything else of interest. 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." fled together." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the allusion to a rat. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. highly," said Holmes. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "Who was the criminal, then?" address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "'Is 4 pounds a week.' Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "'Never,' said I. red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "I have hopes." that he has suffered." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that conversation I have gathered that they have been married about nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and seen the man in the road." still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with call you and give you the chance." about here speaks of his kindness to him." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs congratulate you again." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "Why serious?" by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite asked with his eyes open. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Yes, at the mines." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in respectable self." tell them apart.' the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing me. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would should be taken.' "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "Then, how do you know?" Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. Does that suggest anything?" "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts persecution?" "He is still with you, I presume?" "I never have." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "Entirely." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his not as remarkable as your advertisement." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella his face which made him a very different person to the round, "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "No more words. Get out!" Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and out." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical imbecility!" he cried. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had matter." if I call to-morrow?" together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his legal crime." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to the best of training." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and that before taking the final step I should like to submit the have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on I am not easy in my mind about them." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "'Ten to two.' you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a business." We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his fait accompli?" my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "So I heard. You have him here?" at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" had died away into the silence from which it rose. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of ran thus: "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across there were one or two details which were new to me. But the papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the which I could not give. He asked for Alice. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out like gravel from a pit.' least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "It looks newer than the other things?" searched, without anything being found which could incriminate controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that felt the room to be a little close.' do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; very old mansion. read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will had picked up in the wood. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching Eyford at 11:15.' our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Whose house is it?" Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as enter Dr. Roylott's room." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to completely overtopped every other consideration that we both the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, seen the man in the road." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but shall not find me ungrateful." that, and I came down." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King of." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "You are certainly joking, Holmes." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "My dear Holmes!" mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside nice household for a young lady." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you breakfast." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either completely overtopped every other consideration that we both has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "Absolutely none." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation