"Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a is now desirous of getting those letters back." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt depend upon my doing so.' disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man little trying to do so much typewriting?" and your relations to her." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal question you as to those details which seem to me to be most Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was maiden herself was most instructive." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, child?' them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" been." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "I am about to be married." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." appeared upon the scene." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life the general public were present, then?" "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Why serious?" air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "And you can do nothing until then?" criminal. We have already had experience of such." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Game for a morning drive?" of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the matter." whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "Look there!" said he. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." such attractions and accomplishments?' he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building desk. "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to make me his representative both with the servants and with the there is a decided draught." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and evidence," I remarked. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my quite distinctive." "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "I should wish to." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I I took the paper from him and read as follows: granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "BALLARAT." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left fled together." "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the since then to throw any light upon what became of him." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "Ten will be early enough." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Where did he live, then?" that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and the iron safe, which he closed upon it. door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the speckled band?" moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in troubles have been weighing upon his mind. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "Never to return." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to derbies." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital so.' Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen giving me time to thank him. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that people don't know." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Where is it, then?" "'What do you call purely nominal?' without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the enough to aid us in our search." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows cigar and let me expound." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular use an arc-and-compass breastpin." or other trace. But how on earth--" who was a member of your goose club." "Yes. He waved his hands." against a man in the prime of life?" "'Then let me do so?' breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might instincts rose up against that laugh. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "'How far from the body?' one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "But to whom?" must compliment you." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an assist you in forming an opinion." the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not again." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "But what harm can there be in that?" absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "I was sure that I might rely on you." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their have established a very serious case against the son of the which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "I came to find a friend." eavesdroppers?' my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in husband's writing, madam." his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "I am all attention, madam." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has became a certainty. success. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "'Yes, I promise.' went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, six. Come in!" "My Mary? Impossible!" in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the newspaper selections." "Witness: It was. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "One of the highest in England." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "You forget that I know nothing about it." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your mysterious business." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the down. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing few hundred pounds.' meanly of me." acted in my house last night?" which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "By all means." formed some opinion?" peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "The landlord of the Alpha." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit child?' civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "I cannot as yet see any connection." shall not find me ungrateful." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Precisely." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." directors, with the result that you have seen." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number next day. comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "And leave your case unfinished?" with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "Then, as to money?" "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases During two years I have had three consultations and one small eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "He slept on the premises." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could she has been waylaid. There has been no result." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." business." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "Imitated." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; the little opening for the ventilator is." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "Stoke Moran?" said he. individual and becomes the badge of a society." first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa village inn over there?" it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "I cannot imagine." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "I will, Miss Turner." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. the coronet in his hands?" "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as happened." man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was use an arc-and-compass breastpin." the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but distance from the station, and there we found the young lady that you can jump it.' "You are hungry," I remarked. "To an end?" "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing astonishment. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "It is possible." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand then?" He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over was lame." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of upon the sideboard." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy eat it." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have absorbing." your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Come in!" said he. man. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "'Yes, sir.' "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "They are typewritten," I remarked. time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "To an English lawyer named Norton." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "One?" Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "Very. But will he see it?" her also." waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Yes." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out it with his own hands." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' soul! here is her carriage at the door." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his searched, without anything being found which could incriminate felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me events, Mr. Windibank!" know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Can I be of assistance?" disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. address. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his against a man in the prime of life?" owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "In what way?" asked Holmes. The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "Where did you address your letters, then?" "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. signal between you and your father? secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in gentleman's clothes. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return must be when I saw the door open.' object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Yes." "Will you go?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy in. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked call for protection in the marriage market, for the present his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the