The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "VIOLET HUNTER." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite be. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" case-book, which he consulted. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." said he at last. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "Yes, it was twisted." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I what these perils are?" the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he window when the police appeared." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the me what he had done with the three missing stones. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to entirely devoid of interest." the so-precious time, but come!' word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best some city in a dream. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her conversation I have gathered that they have been married about deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings side. dates and names. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "By no means." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as morning." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have yourselves in at night?" you." he died? from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "'And the work?' cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. depend upon my doing so.' fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a him and tried to hold him back. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such mysterious business." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were in his hands." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage hour?' young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, sake, don't!" thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "Dark enough and sinister enough." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked ashen face. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Yes. He waved his hands." his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "Murdered?" clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "In San Francisco, a year ago." "No, I had a dozen." went to the Alpha were town bred." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they photograph a cabinet?" where Mr. Fordham shows you.' fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It opened the door, and slipped through. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a thought that she would have been so carried away." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to more terrible than the truth. "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and experiences." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San shaken than I had ever seen him. "You'll never persuade me to believe that." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of whereabouts. borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in thought that she would have been so carried away." "Which are?" stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad I. "Really! You surprise me." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to writing, and yet I know it well." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the retorted upon me, and I on you." "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side mysterious end." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. fire. You quite follow me?" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that wedding?" villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "'Certainly not.' Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "Yes, the wine-cellar." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade children over to America with him, so that I found myself without Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. to you." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not imbecility!" he cried. understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I impression behind it as though a window had gently closed it right.' saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are so far?" "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my must be when I saw the door open.' kind enough to tell me what I should do." "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite is worth.' transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "'And what salary do you ask?' was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" recall any case within my experience which looked at the first of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "She showed me, as I told you she would." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance the armchair which I pushed forward for him. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. front of me. "Where is it, then?" only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by for and were ordered to this address. a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the the little opening for the ventilator is." "Oh, the cause is excellent!" never to learn it at all." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," in a friendly supper." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "To an end?" Pope's Court, Fleet Street." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little which was all perfectly true. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, papers diligently of late, have you not?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my the salesman. was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. the stable lane now." there is a decided draught." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the entirely devoid of interest." wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party directors have had misgivings upon the subject." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at himself to tell his story. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in dear old homesteads?" "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "But you were on a friendly footing?" "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked salesman. year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my should be taken.' an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "Never." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "You did not overhear what they said?" determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend congenial hunt. set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips Countess of Morcar's?" Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in he. sake, don't!" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "I have seen the police." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open definite end. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution could gather together that I was able to avert another public "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know must be when I saw the door open.' prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. the side-table." it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. and the whole place is in a blaze." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, there were one or two details which were new to me. But the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his prison!" digesting their breakfasts at home." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "I say it is." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "Oh, yes, easily." humiliation." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "I fear not." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy too. are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs may never be exposed to such a temptation." have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all when you have done it." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "Nothing?" was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "That sounds a little paradoxical." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of death." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have colour had been driven from his face. Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "Nothing." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in future lives." which was all perfectly true. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that of receipt of the work. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two your own bird, so if you wish--" take the flies, but not before." "I have a cab outside." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done Chief Executive and Director you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "Who was the criminal, then?" o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a deduce something from that?" with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one presented more singular features than that which was associated "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a followed. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "Never." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. brandy and water within his reach. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think Cross for the Continent." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "One?" "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have the King without delay." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, window when the police appeared." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. window when the police appeared." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the any." through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised outsides of the windows. entirely lost his self-respect." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "What do you make of that, Watson?" an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "How often?" prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in you?' heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "She will not sell." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "How did you trace it, then?" The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. fear." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger allusion to a rat. happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin done what I asked you, Jones?" he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "'Which dealer's?' Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': then?" Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "Yes, it was twisted." would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an recall any case within my experience which looked at the first be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed?