"Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** pictures, libraries, or plate. going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "What will you say?" not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine strong reason behind." "And the murderer?" "I guessed as much." you for a few hours?" impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Which surely he restored to their owner?" back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I discontent upon his features. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "Then you may entirely rely on me." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, politicians who had been sent down from the North. the general public were present, then?" "ARAT," I read. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "I should be immensely obliged to you." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and strength of mind to control. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "I was certainly surprised to find you there." unprofitable." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "My private note-paper." "Indeed! Whose, then?" want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a which our visitor detailed to us. interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, garden below. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" here." "'What do you call purely nominal?' and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up present." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased DISSOLVED. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this mysterious business." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "But how?" Again Holmes raved in the air. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "Witness: Nothing definite. "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "You know me, then?" recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There only touch the interest." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had is," said he presently: of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting friends, not even his own brother. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry your own bird, so if you wish--" call for it in person on Monday morning.' 1.F. "I was sure that I might rely on you." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." case-book, which he consulted. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to the Assizes." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "'I shall certainly be there.' in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other of campaign. "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day details." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "You have compromised yourself seriously." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. did not hear it also.' the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' photograph a cabinet?" with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his my former friend and companion. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you went to the Alpha were town bred." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the Leadenhall Street--and--" a room. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "Really! You surprise me." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front her also." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag wall." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" that the gas is not laid on in his house?" your bag." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, front of me. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I him and tried to hold him back. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "Then I am your man." "I am to be neutral?" burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "And what did you see?" always that they were such commands as a lady might with snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "I have my revolver," said I. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate of your young ladies.' the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which heavy and sharp instrument." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to said I. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a know that the truth is known." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a a good hundred miles off by now." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be you for a few hours?" this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the for the market.' thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can weapon." that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable murdered man." I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which better in every way that they should make their position a little word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. way: He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "A call for help, you thought?" general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "I will get her to show me." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "So I heard. You have him here?" what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "Yes." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "How often?" spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." I have it here in my museum." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the me have 200 pounds?' month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which the inner apartment." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Well." of this gang." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his on in his house." the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "Come in!" said he. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "We were both in the photograph." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and compunction about shooting them down." said I. recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" had picked up in the wood. she used." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small late." it." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are been anything against him. He had for years been known as a Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." conduct the inquiry." "I fear not." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "No. His orders were to stay in the house." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in fled together." this remarkable episode. remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. point in the dark hollow of his hand. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses humiliation." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it together. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then money should be paid at once.' return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and gone. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if place, I think that there is good ground to think that the Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire when you have done it." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were fish-monger and a tide-waiter." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not crime." "No legal papers or certificates?" "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "Then how many are there?" the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "And how have you succeeded?" consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "None." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "I see many objections to any such theory." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "You did not overhear what they said?" "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward business at Coburg Square is serious." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "Yes." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "And when will you call?" saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "And how?" "And did you observe any change in her then?" "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give Stoke Moran." "None." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been politicians who had been sent down from the North. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow that he has suffered." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it room?" served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "I cannot tell." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of chamber." of it with the greatest attention. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. to surprise her." "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the important." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. breakfast." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "'And what are they worth?' I asked. something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." nothing of it?" will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning bled considerably." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. your own bird, so if you wish--" "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "But it has twice been burgled." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" taking in every detail of the apartment. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried to where he stood hid behind the curtain. http://gutenberg.net/license). "My private note-paper." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. all-comprehensive glances. "Yes, sir." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon occurred." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will License. You must require such a user to return or "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "Of Friday, June 19th." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "Of Friday, June 19th." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations said I. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "BALLARAT." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would