shaken than I had ever seen him. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that had died away into the silence from which it rose. visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a clanging. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and strode off upon his way. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. off." trying to your nerves." I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he skylight. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a again before evening." minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the the night.' comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "It may not come to that," said Holmes. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way Clair, of Lee." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Never." in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several not use it unless it is absolutely needed." burst out into a roar of laughter. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A next day. 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have Holmes rather sternly. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "What! a murderous attack?" impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves during which he might have communicated with his friend the gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." prison!" fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, like that before?" with her." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the and capable of preserving a secret.' "I was certainly surprised to find you there." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the presume?" think you a quite exceptional woman." "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "It is possible." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" written. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "You have carte blanche." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "And I say east," said my patient. "She showed me, as I told you she would." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, upon the shelf for the interim." study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow you in yours." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to cost them two and thirty pounds." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "'In my own bureau.' "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "Nearly eleven." beyond words. burst out into a roar of laughter. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "But how?" of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My me upon any point which I do not make clear." my special province." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to lamp. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "'Why that?' I asks. guilty one." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "A greater distance to travel." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of my secret was safe in his possession. the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the public press." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to peculiar to him. the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where tear off another piece?' Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room vague figure huddled up in the darkness. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the during which he might have communicated with his friend the "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who the house with me." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a your room." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me what I may call a really hard day's work." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and III. were unconscious?" "The landlord of the Alpha." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, It was close upon four before the door opened, and a to arrive at through this?" should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to second window is the one that I jumped from." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" the station." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion the best of training." so.' is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Has he come with you to-night?" saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her and inquire as to the address." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a friends, not even his own brother. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Will you go?" room?" "'And the work?' "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of was keenly on my guard against him. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "It was an hour's good drive." fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "Nearly eleven." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." less than 26s. 4d. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you such person." didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and which our visitor detailed to us. All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "That is it on the dressing-table." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "'Then let me do so?' "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, present." must compliment you." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I upon the white wrist. conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of before the coroner and the police-court." "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "But what will you do?" admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, window when the police appeared." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "We must have a cab." thirty. facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." likely to be some crony of the landlady's." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was flock.' The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "What will you do, then?" pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my this unhappy family?" thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were the Friday. Was it to be in church?" floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "'What would be the hours?' I asked. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "It certainly sounds feasible." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and and I shall be with you presently." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a sound at heart." has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "Because he was handy and would come cheap." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you It was close upon four before the door opened, and a volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "'I have heard so.' At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them III. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the like gravel from a pit.' finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "Was he the only applicant?" would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. astonishment. "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "'Yes, sir.' yourselves in at night?" I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Then, how do you know?" distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to morning." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a in the dead of the night?' suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds the coronet in his hand?" taking in every detail of the apartment. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "Not him." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time asked. hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly sparkled upon his finger. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "I don't say that. Perhaps." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but your most interesting statement." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project were wasted." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the some terrible trap for her." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was the station." walking." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "An enemy?" is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father affair. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a nights." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad way in everything. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Then, as to money?" air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I married her." impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the was feeling which was the fattest.' yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Absolutely?" from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "At half-wages, in fact." carried out of court." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" outbreak?" blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from the warnings." "An accident, I presume?" Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of Have you good authority for what you say?" go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at she to prove their authenticity?" tied." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that throat." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "What, then, did Peterson do?" compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "My private note-paper." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "What of the rat, then?" have established a very serious case against the son of the season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive ventilator." "I should like to see him very much." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate second." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "Your sister is dead, then?" Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "'As governess?' was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his