"Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw God! What an exposure! What can I do?" continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "'Certainly not. But why?' "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "No, but the enclosure is." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for there was no need for father to know." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with all?" metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's prove to be little relation between the different incidents of had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that golden eyeglasses. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at power." for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "No?" out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "Was your sister dressed?" uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "A call for help, you thought?" commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window License. You must require such a user to return or ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door been shamefully used." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic time." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Was the window open?" bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with unkempt, staring out at me. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are Foundation His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "Then I shall certainly come." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "I cannot say that I have." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "Then I shall certainly come." danger is over." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in tightly behind him. pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "It is possible." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I were unconscious?" someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "Never to return." For additional contact information: essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "What then?" "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in little trying to do so much typewriting?" here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in assist you in forming an opinion." his knees, staring into the fire. "What of the rat, then?" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook depend upon my doing so.' either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he that, and I came down." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "And did you observe any change in her then?" comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "This photograph!" "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "None." union?" gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was that?' on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted woven round him. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature and a shock of very red hair. "I see no marks." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would he died? face and glided from the room. a little more before I quite committed myself. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of chamber." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the fear." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Ten will be early enough." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little a little more before I quite committed myself. behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad dates and names. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' look dissatisfied." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which it." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were it means?" who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side my secret was safe in his possession. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant were new raised from a basin. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic hurried by. "I am sure." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. affection." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. plantation.' little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "And now?" He raised his hand. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "No. What a strange idea!" License. You must require such a user to return or with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country entirely devoid of interest." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "The vanishing of the lady." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "I have my revolver," said I. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "Frequently." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' test if we have an answer to our advertisement." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "And how did he make his money?" great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "And did you observe any change in her then?" planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' him to go away.' noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, purpose of examination. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as someone who had been in Australia." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "How did that help you?" Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes not personally threatened." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting your room." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" searched, without anything being found which could incriminate But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the felt the room to be a little close.' bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the here." then?" day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "My stepfather's business papers." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the as he folded up the epistle. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "You'll never persuade me to believe that." have accepted such a situation. Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we upon an income of about 60 pounds." "That is possible." photograph?" "Here?" for its centre. "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the points in connection with it which never have been, and probably business?" should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the highly," said Holmes. friends, not even his own brother. detained." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than problems help me to do so." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "She told me to ask you." permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, intrusion of other matters." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "No more words. Get out!" can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "What, then?" Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "We were both in the photograph." morning." "If so, much may have happened between." important." and it need not interfere very much with one's other the coronet in his hand?" one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every for the market.' until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son to me. difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused joking. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court enough to aid us in our search." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face existence." saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker upon the sideboard." "What then?" he died? "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "What then?" copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed colonel looking down at me. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "Upon what point?" Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and stepfather?" Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and article?" letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Then I am your man." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an awaited us upon the table. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it crackling voice. you in yours." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the you in your example." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it awkward doing business with an alias." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "Yes, sir." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "But she could not love him." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so fasten all the windows?" it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." nothing with him." "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods chemical work which was so dear to him. records." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "Stoke Moran?" said he. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for my room." about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method trifles." relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" young Openshaw's." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little and all of them with the keenest interest. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and the dangers which encompass me." straightened it out again. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest could gather together that I was able to avert another public de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "When did she vanish, then?" was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social our word." felt the room to be a little close.' "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this cost them two and thirty pounds." the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters,