Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of come either from the window or the door. My attention was young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was carpenter." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, certainly do as you advise." read it out to me." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "Yes, but only for you and me." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Well, it is a possible supposition." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For true." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "'Where to?' the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of upon the shelf for the interim." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "Really! You surprise me." your only hope of safety." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his dramatic, in fact." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a room had already been engaged for us. few hundred pounds.' appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the some terrible trap for her." that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how definite end. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the Holmes' room. some terrible trap for her." significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "'Certainly,' I answered. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that as he remarks, very much against the son." to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from What do you deduce from it?" upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have me upon any point which I do not make clear." married her." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "We have tried and failed." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close tightly behind him. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "It is possible." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's orange pips. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "'A dozen yards or so.' Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came were wasted." Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, present strange and interesting features that it is no easy shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I because she had spent so short a time in this country that she against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "And on what day did he meet his death?" "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. congenial hunt. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "I was certainly surprised to find you there." harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the later, upon the night of May 2nd." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name formed some opinion?" black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "You have but to name it." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." any." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "Pray let us have it, for all that." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "He said too much." "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to and your relations to her." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "'Then let me do so?' since then to throw any light upon what became of him." cigar and let me expound." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of said he, "my real name is James Ryder." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "And I say east," said my patient. "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" the child." call it cruel." feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "And from a noble client?" step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "And Miss Sutherland?" the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to His smile broadened. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "What! You do not mean bodies?" which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Ah, but I was recommended to you." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works easy-going way." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton tightly behind him. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during Again Holmes raved in the air. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag again on its way. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right the child." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "Quite so. She has her freedom." wall." John Swain, of St. Augustine. following enigmatical notices: and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "I know where it is." giving me time to thank him. for the market.' "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your pity, because in other respects you would really have done very possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of the so-precious time, but come!' gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, goes." the coronet at all injured?" while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the him and tried to hold him back. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I eavesdroppers?' THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his to Leatherhead. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "That was it, sir." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "Frequently." "You will not go there first?" "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' cigar and let me expound." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough matters immensely." have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable Doctor, of the paper and the date." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "So I heard. You have him here?" smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for gigantic client. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at here and I will read it to you: you do it in twenty minutes!' creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "I answered that I had not. before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "Yes, that is the Crown." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this some place of shelter and let the county police know what has I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what the armchair which I pushed forward for him. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house way in." carriage. It was a chestnut." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his Sutherland. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his it with his own hands." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, Count Von Kramm." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "I have my revolver," said I. "Look there!" said he. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him dramatic, in fact." which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned recall any case within my experience which looked at the first its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most locked. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I never came back." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "'In my own bureau.' to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "'How far from the body?' Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There pierced for earrings?" "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Breckinridge is his name." "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. official police." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a have one." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a bedroom door." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I answer." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." whole matter to your consideration." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right the child." "There is the writing." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the it were putty." drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive fait accompli?" to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of leaning back in his chair. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "It is his hat." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for upon the white wrist. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You becomes even more simple." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her intimate personal affairs in this public manner." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "My own seal." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass even so self-evident a thing as that." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I page at http://pglaf.org test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "Precisely." investigation." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' to miss it." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to colonel looking down at me. animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who south, for the country is more deserted there." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "I cannot tell." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, occurred." "I have a cab outside." if she died from some sudden fright." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were brandy and water within his reach. have had none more fantastic than this." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced companion. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "You are hungry," I remarked. "Then you may entirely rely on me." of campaign. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else fattened it expressly for you.' We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite suspect him." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his presented more singular features than that which was associated society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey Have you good authority for what you say?" said he. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "And you thought he was pulled back?" "At half-wages, in fact." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the a very grave face. those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes forecastle of an emigrant ship.