"'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two she slowly sank and died without having recovered her in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "I should wish to." looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out seen the man in the road." assist you in forming an opinion." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "At half-wages, in fact." "None." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our dear old homesteads?" see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "It missed him, then?" me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such points to suicide?" said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Holmes' thin, eager face. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the opened a pocket-book and took out a note. guilty parties." "What! a murderous attack?" "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "It came here." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a to go into your room and bar your shutters?" Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of row." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this Watson," he said cordially. "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate upon the shelf for the interim." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes at my own good fortune. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord desk. notes," he said. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, obstinate." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Yes, sir." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "'Never,' said I. "But you were on a friendly footing?" office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "What is it, then--a fire?" believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Can I be of assistance?" "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters one which it was hard to resist. "That is not always so easy." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just than to us. hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "And how did you verify them?" yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we up this clue while it is still hot." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "What then?" pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "And you don't know his address?" to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but locked." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both His smile broadened. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in habit of advancing money.' at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Nothing?" makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. appeared upon the scene." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other kind enough to tell me what I should do." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge yourselves in at night?" that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet matter." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with late!' garden below. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was It was close upon four before the door opened, and a nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, and inquire as to the address." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite ill-usage at the hands of fortune. highly," said Holmes. of the one which your family is now devouring." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. death." not come at once?" dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of horse could go." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, were new raised from a basin. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think straightened it out again. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. brain must have something in it." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my wall." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have and a shock of very red hair. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive fishes. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I when you have done it." not come at once?" his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the narrative." might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a the house with me." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised depend upon my doing so.' events, Mr. Windibank!" aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "At what time?" we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "Of Friday, June 19th." "Where did he live, then?" a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "How did you trace it, then?" donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but and a shock of very red hair. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think II. "Yes, I have one waiting." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "And how did you find out?" was a loud and authoritative tap. certainly do as you advise." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and It may be so in this case, also." of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "If so, much may have happened between." cause to be." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "I know where it is." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of if only as a check to my own memory." "My own seal." "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "Ha! you find it so?" "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." nothing with him." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat always that they were such commands as a lady might with bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" there in twenty minutes." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know views." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "He said that you could solve anything." Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "'What then?' I asked. hard-headed British jury." which our visitor detailed to us. "None. Neville wrote those words." "Where did he live, then?" from the brougham. "Never." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "The rest you will leave in our hands." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came good for you to do.' "Yes, but only for you and me." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "By no means." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. power." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these had formerly been in part my own. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "How are you getting on?" waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "But I have heard all that you have heard." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "The murder was done with it." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist during the last few years, and there are many noble families to effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; Lestrade of Scotland Yard." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him we went to search for him, face downward in a little advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "'Not at all. I only doubt--' and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." for securing the situation." clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white chance at all." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed this man was intellectual?" sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "Precisely so. But how--" We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a tail." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. constraint." late!' interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "We must sit without light. He would see it through the and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the points to suicide?" "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a question. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in crackling voice. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to in your London, you will know that the office of the company is and no precautions can guard against." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in you give your casting vote to?" pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been the iron safe, which he closed upon it. hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed important." "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, light and attacked it." made his money." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the and capable of preserving a secret.' is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. overpowering excitement and concern. examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "Absolutely none." woven round him. husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "Dirty?" "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "Your French gold?" "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had of them has the shutters up.' for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "Never to return." place of silver." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a to go into your room and bar your shutters?" minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of the King without delay." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" Dr. Gregory B. Newby however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she villagers almost as much as their master. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. province." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until Clair, of Lee." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "And did you observe any change in her then?" whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." matter over." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "It's nothing of the kind." will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my quickly through a disagreeable task. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could over with notes and figures. unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "But he might be a bachelor." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for together. There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the have I gained?" in my life." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old unclasping of his long thin hands.