the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered could not have written that. It is the German who is so which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance it with his own hands." train.' the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of here." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the in this note: someone who had been in Australia." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it that he will be back before evening." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it ourselves in the office." Sutherland. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the brandy and water within his reach. this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "'And the work?' instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a ways including including checks, online payments and credit card preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been your co-operation." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "Very truly yours, "A call for help, you thought?" on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Ten will be early enough." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the had no one to advise her at such a crisis." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us pity, because in other respects you would really have done very that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as where she found matters as described by the last witness. bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Absolutely none." "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! weapon." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' client, rising. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the lips." "Won't it ring?" and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire your Highness to the police-station?" give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you this Miss Turner." and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "Then I am your man." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to bill, which interests me deeply." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll intimate personal affairs in this public manner." it with his own hands." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those be.' all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' your own bird, so if you wish--" "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair This is what he says: simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making one of the states of the Union." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the eat it." case before our client came into the room." "We must have a cab." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. dear old homesteads?" right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "And how have you succeeded?" Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew shall use the carriage to-night." the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, begun to whiten, even as mine has." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have and effective." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. best detective that ever lived. with you alone." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Oh, the cause is excellent!" Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "How did you trace it, then?" "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and The telegram which we eventually received came late one night too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I politicians who had been sent down from the North. "Yes, from Horsham." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, for securing the situation." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "'Certainly not.' "What then?" "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, I shall continue with my miserable story. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Did your wife hear all this?" "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the have one." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper The telegram which we eventually received came late one night people don't know." answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some the matter." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" indeed which he could not unravel. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "No legal papers or certificates?" "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over six. Come in!" liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness will he say when he returns?" The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your paper in the air. works. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall the roots. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon it with his own hands." upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "Were they all fastened this morning?" closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to such person." way: had this final quarrel? very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it without success. At last the little money which I had saved began story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not the coronet in his hands?" "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it the general public were present, then?" wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid strong and stiff." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must are windows in it, of course?" alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to the coronet at all injured?" "It is no ordinary one." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his It was close upon four before the door opened, and a his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There meanly of me." is worth.' saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some simple cases which are so extremely difficult." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, his face. "If I can be of use." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "The vanishing of the lady." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is arms and began to sob in a high treble key. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were flock.' sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "It came here." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built problems help me to do so." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the in his power. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "'Quite sure, dad.' "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "And it is--" places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after since then to throw any light upon what became of him." breakfast?" time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were pressing in one house as in another. lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was within hail.' the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Yes?" hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I later, upon the night of May 2nd." enter Dr. Roylott's room." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the hardly wander." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must Sholtos." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little envelope. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "I think that it is very probable." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "Do you know him?" about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "It goes to the housekeeper's room." recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the he. flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied the iron safe, which he closed upon it. indeed which he could not unravel. "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose started for the Temple to see my husband. friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the important." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "What of the rat, then?" the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist Young McCarthy must be got off, however." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "No." were new raised from a basin. front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin hour?' us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "That is not always so easy." and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "But we can't all be." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "'Then let me do so?' dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "What do you mean?" "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "I will get her to show me." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature habit of advancing money.' questionable one." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "VIOLET HUNTER." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "I was mad--insane." not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the thin, with a long, sharp nose?" violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal name is different." room had already been engaged for us. exactly what you advise." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where in this note: was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly formed some opinion?" and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door assist you in forming an opinion." thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "Where, then, is my wife?" "VIOLET HUNTER." all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and not within a twentieth part of the market price." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We examine." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free prepare for the new role I have to play." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?"