engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could Surrey." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found tied." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with bell. Holmes whistled. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no words came to my lips. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "And how did you find out?" "Married! When?" turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just is a common subject for conversation. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "Which are?" to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "I was sure that I might rely on you." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "Then he might have called to you?" imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I delighted to hear it," he said. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is something of him before." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out meant." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who carriage. It was a chestnut." for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "'Never,' said I. "I am in hopes that she does." directors, with the result that you have seen." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps key turn in the lock." "Well?" better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "My dear Holmes!" "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "'And what salary do you ask?' continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "I don't say that. Perhaps." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong My friend smiled. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "What! Had he lost his wife?" "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "Here?" because she had spent so short a time in this country that she yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train them present such singular features as the strange train of faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Where did you address your letters, then?" "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "What is it?" "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the the one as in the other." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be the bed, and you in that chair." was already answered. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless you." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting fishes. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "The vanishing of the lady." beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the it. fashion which was peculiar to him. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not without a word or a look. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure roused himself from his reverie. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out wall." "You have but to name it." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, business in the City. She little knew what. ready to-morrow?' visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Breckinridge is his name." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You business came to an end." same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a there!' "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "Always." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking the loss of it. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "Quite so. She has her freedom." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and his cane at the bell-pull. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a just called myself is not exactly my own." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down you." cigars in the box." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps assist you in forming an opinion." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should exactly what you advise." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." that he has suffered." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you such attractions and accomplishments?' sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in do you make of it all?" who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "The gentleman I describe." "Quite so. She has her freedom." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she speckled band?" another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that this as likely?" long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Frequently." "Where, then?" paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the that I can to serve you." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he even of instruction." fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has swore that no one else had been in the front room during the simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be or other trace. But how on earth--" beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, secret." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. the date of his supposed suicide." it. "No, I had a dozen." Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself always that they were such commands as a lady might with fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS emerged. both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he into her hand at the door and which lured her within their wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain prison!" to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is of." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink think, you have already met." could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to be.' This is what he says: coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, upon an income of about 60 pounds." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this Mary, has deserted me." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "I will, Miss Turner." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "And your father? Did you tell him?" that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "How on earth--" here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and beg that you will break it off." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "Certainly." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, he bowed and left the room without another word. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at mystery may be cleared along those lines." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "'Yes, I promise.' with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." guilty parties." learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me Munro.' maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "That is easily got." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid it were putty." All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from tightly behind him. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no me have 200 pounds?' were wasted." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the the morning and make my own way in the world.' panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage companion quietly. observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite I think that I could be of assistance to you." "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question lids now and glanced across at his visitor. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of face and glided from the room. "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "How about poison?" my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that of." lamp in his hand. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day to have been novel and of interest." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off completely overtopped every other consideration that we both imbecility!" he cried. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I on in his house." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "Never to return." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been their singular warning or token before them when starting upon yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "And why in hopes?" first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been the general public were present, then?" window when the police appeared." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already page at http://pglaf.org happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "Well, some hundreds of times." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The union?" even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "No, distinctly professional." "He slept on the premises." "Look there!" said he. "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "'I have already given you my word.' "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; James Windibank. Voilà tout!" favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which place, I think that there is good ground to think that the your most interesting statement." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You address. "The King of Scandinavia." the ceiling. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Yes, that is the Crown." cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his cheerful." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "But you have hopes?" "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to fat-encircled eyes. cheerful." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in Farm upon the left." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true bedroom door." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any cigars in the box." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made Street. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church nice household for a young lady." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the get the tickets." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Oh, yes, easily." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this such person." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By subject to the trademark license, especially commercial 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one against a man in the prime of life?" generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint of." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And