"Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "'Why that?' I asks. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to congratulate you again." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very here." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it good for you to do.' them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has place, I think that there is good ground to think that the At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Holmes, the busybody!" about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. and I shall be with you presently." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "You think that he is dead?" breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened second window is the one that I jumped from." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to chair. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "From his hat?" man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa and that he would see to anything that turned up. detective. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I the house with me." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." events than those which have happened in my own family." "No, I had a dozen." myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." your Highness to the police-station?" scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "'And what salary do you ask?' "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as this truth that in these little records of our cases which you the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "But you have hopes?" door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': to me. "Murdered?" has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "About a month then." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "In heaven's name, what for?" the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to he bowed and left the room without another word. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing front of the hall door has given its name to the place. into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of opened the door, and slipped through. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." mystery." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since one which it was hard to resist. "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us house for five minutes.' firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to than to us. dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and retorted upon me, and I on you." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the allusion to a rat. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." window when the police appeared." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! clanging. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by photograph?" The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "My private note-paper." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the get her out of the way." the King without delay." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "And what then?" power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy acted in my house last night?" opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is recall any case within my experience which looked at the first instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "'I am sure that I do not know.' "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed husband's writing, madam." "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really plantation.' house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. to me. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me was keenly on my guard against him. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "No." was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her did not hear it also.' "And the cigar-holder?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel The telegram which we eventually received came late one night used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the cause to be." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, knowledge of the world." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "'About the same.' of campaign. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I directly by questioning you." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "It was." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project to surprise her." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "How on earth--" "Of what?" to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "'I shall certainly be there.' "Not in a good cause." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE past. chambers. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by License. You must require such a user to return or rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am papers on the sundial.'" and effective." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at be best to do. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "Yes, I have one waiting." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "By all means." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "My dear Holmes!" confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "It may not come to that," said Holmes. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. giving me time to thank him. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but until night should bring an explanation. "No, I had a dozen." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "And leave your case unfinished?" daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended certainly not very gracious." "Deserted you?" this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." me what he had done with the three missing stones. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," girl said." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." murdered man." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I again on its way. observed. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "Never to return." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The of." not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken your most interesting statement." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Certainly." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Entirely." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no think that he is innocent?" such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, tell them apart.' public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true in darkness. "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was carpenter." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. lamp. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to other, as fresh and trim as possible. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened been." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." presented more singular features than that which was associated end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no that the gas is not laid on in his house?" an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll bird of prey. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. tell me that you intended to go into harness." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the Henry Baker is a member." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of are, I think, all that we need." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our four million human beings all jostling each other within the not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "Have you it here?" "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "But his lameness?" "Seven!" I answered. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this closely." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "I have a cab outside." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" such attractions and accomplishments?' assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an have got?" the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every make me his representative both with the servants and with the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself of a light. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing good for you to do.' usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "What then?" however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "And what did you see?" seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my in his power. very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, records." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the retorted upon me, and I on you." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "What! You do not mean bodies?" short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "It is possible." time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "'It is locked up,' I answered. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "Yes." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I anything to do with the matter?" fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not which are rolled in Rotterdam." "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution once more to my work. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his disappearance of these gems?" to me. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the of the efforts of the United States government and of the better probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "But how?" could gather together that I was able to avert another public With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had noting anything else of interest. unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "'What do you call purely nominal?' a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "'And what salary do you ask?' round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty the roots. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "Look there!" said he. forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to have had none more fantastic than this." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat point our research must commence, and we will begin it by asked. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "And Irene Adler?" promised to bring home. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements it. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still that, and I came down." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "You have compromised yourself seriously." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked