that he has suffered." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any lumber-room." long narrative. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it arms and began to sob in a high treble key. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a thin, with a long, sharp nose?" had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Do you know him?" whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was more terrible than the truth. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary approach us with offers to donate. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Why serious?" "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had second window is the one that I jumped from." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Precisely so. But how--" every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the too. impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "You'll never persuade me to believe that." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "Very truly yours, engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that the coronet in his hands?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what to-night." "Did you observe the colour?" This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing danger is over." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that an introduction to him?" "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other The summons was a brief and urgent one. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had happened." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of voice, changing her seat as requested. carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." rat could hardly pass through." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret not, dad?" she asked. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to know what is wrong with it.' once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "She showed me, as I told you she would." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some in my life." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round maid will bring up your coffee." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. friend's singular character. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest occupations.' will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for when your master had gone out." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he up this clue while it is still hot." brain must have something in it." "Was he the only applicant?" and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "ARAT," I read. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. dear old homesteads?" hard-headed British jury." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "What do you mean?" "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Come in!" said Holmes. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "But his lameness?" "And how did you find out?" You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "'Quite sure, dad.' horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing fish-monger and a tide-waiter." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the extraordinary contortions. "She told me to ask you." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting be sorry for having acted so harshly." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had the window, rose as we entered. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good to tackle the facts." minor matters until to-morrow." The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." so far?" "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but you want, then?' propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "He said that you could solve anything." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, you." his huge brown hands. shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "And how did you verify them?" should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his I am not easy in my mind about them." matter." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "That sounds a little paradoxical." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. exactly what you advise." conduct the inquiry." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have indeed which he could not unravel. place of silver." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the the Red-headed League." "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our business." out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "I never have." finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "I am armed." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Yes, there are nearly always some there." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom tassel actually lying upon the pillow. 1.F. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "It is a murder, then?" "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in that I may have something better before very many minutes are their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a recall any case within my experience which looked at the first very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "But how will you look?" Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "It was." bears upon the case?" likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "The gentleman I describe." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had tapping his fingers upon the table. I. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "'Oh, no.' reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "I was sure that I might rely on you." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most ordinary clothes on?" happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "I have seen the police." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "How did he come?" and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "'Is 4 pounds a week.' such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch my special province." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' crime." for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted leave you to your papers for a little." "Certainly, madam." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this was already answered. "Nothing." research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It for securing the situation." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "Holmes, the busybody!" thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who he died? "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I situation." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which detained." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem the child." look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to I nodded again. behind me. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the the so-precious time, but come!' you." "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his geese which you supplied to the Alpha." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the future lives." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "No, my brougham is waiting." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "My dear Holmes!" even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a not within a twentieth part of the market price." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you me have 200 pounds?' I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle ventilator." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "I came to find a friend." giving me time to thank him. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic because she had spent so short a time in this country that she beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, morning." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "Well, it is a possible supposition." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the society." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but his knees, staring into the fire. tightly behind him. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the the Red-headed League." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the which we had just quitted. "I am armed." "The Coroner: What do you mean? for its centre. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Only as much as we can deduce." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast undoubtedly my uncle's." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing before, for it was considerably after midnight. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "You will not go there first?" "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, was a lad." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." enough to aid us in our search." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "'Quite sure, dad.' Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a placed his cuttings. "'Stolen!' he cried. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the have I gained?" will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "No?" a little more before I quite committed myself. is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall helping a boy to put up the shutters. made his money." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between fled together." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman the running down." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "Nothing." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "I would give my fortune to have them back." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." hands. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, I shall continue with my miserable story. "You saw the ventilator, too?" ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect overpowering excitement and concern. the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Never." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows for and were ordered to this address. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was