to a more successful conclusion." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There all-comprehensive glances. problems help me to do so." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. sofa. This way, please!" End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "No." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who then?" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "And leave your case unfinished?" business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "No, thank goodness, she did not." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "'About the same.' "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper is now desirous of getting those letters back." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many at my own good fortune. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked started for the Temple to see my husband. "Always." "It looks newer than the other things?" "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard empty. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "You have a clue?" the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide goes." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical The summons was a brief and urgent one. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Dirty?" together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "Eh? What was that?" "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where these bleak autumnal evenings." "Thank you. And your address?" say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my really the only notable feature about the thing." "'Not at all. I only doubt--' children over to America with him, so that I found myself without the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the our word." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than husband's writing, madam." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be gbnewby@pglaf.org The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. carried out of court." digesting their breakfasts at home." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that have I gained?" mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not better grown goose." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "What! You do not mean bodies?" Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little the side-table." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as sit on the left-hand side of the driver." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing and no precautions can guard against." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "Frequently." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in any more." in the port of London." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "No, I think that I'll take it." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "You know me, then?" face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "Why, it's a dummy," said he. sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in cheerful." beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "But how will you look?" "Murdered?" "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom seven miles from Eyford Station.' "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "What, then, did Peterson do?" "Where is it, then?" told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I means taking possession of that which another person has a prior Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would anything to do with the matter?" "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I was feeling which was the fattest.' darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot laugh and put his lips to my ear. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "That is easily got." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "'As governess?' dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "I am armed." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not Lee, in the county of Kent." "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "'Certainly not. But why?' peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger come either from the window or the door. My attention was music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes horse could go." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and people in all walks of life. to-night?' hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "I am to be neutral?" "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your forbidden door. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a electronic works mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the strength of mind to control. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him think that any burglar could have done. "It is very kind of you." very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "Here?" Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "But his left-handedness." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point Does that suggest anything?" everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the head. So long, then!" "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "That is unusual in a young girl." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "'What then?' I asked. but preventing her from injuring another. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his wedding?" But Holmes shook his head gravely. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those there were one or two details which were new to me. But the other lovers by making love himself." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to place no limit on the sum I may draw." bonnet, and went out." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual which our visitor detailed to us. "Certainly." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "Two days later this same performance was gone through under the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the have been better. It is all right." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you carried out of court." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "But you can know nothing of this?" pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "No legal papers or certificates?" scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our carpenter." "None." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange with frightened eyes at his accuser. "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "Quite so." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "Yes, I have one waiting." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "From his hat?" a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "He slept on the premises." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "How did you trace it, then?" corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a orange pips. pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat to have been novel and of interest." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "Not I." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could mysterious end." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, standing smiling on the door-step. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in at home. "I should be immensely obliged to you." back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "How did he come?" lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "'It is locked up,' I answered. as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more are, I think, all that we need." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his for and were ordered to this address. Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "It is solved." Foundation insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of married her." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "What, then?" was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Then the page we have seen--" "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the to arrive at through this?" someone who had been in Australia." the general public were present, then?" possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "But it has twice been burgled." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of and glanced through. reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "I cannot say that I have." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when me." The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Yes, he did." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There murdered man." the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "Certainly." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the awkward doing business with an alias." drove away. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down absolutely follow my advice in every respect." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "At half-wages, in fact." you do it in twenty minutes!' out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which about. "No bad?"