"You have it, sir, just as it happened." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "That is not always so easy." return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have chance." interested in these little problems, and since you are good accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." beyond words. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "About a month then." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so learned something! Where are the gems?" back alive. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He Holmes' thin, eager face. comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that me, and I could not think that his explanation of the once more. association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "Pray tell us what has happened to you." very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "What, then, did Peterson do?" "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "Yes." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Was your sister dressed?" "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, signal between you and your father? "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had few hundred pounds.' it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in hard-headed British jury." "I will not look." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have fatally injured? "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." drove away. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "Bought." "But not more so than I to find you." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "None." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is is four-and-twenty." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to way: my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this seven miles from Eyford Station.' keep the flames under. seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears observed. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "No." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "But what will you do?" destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and showing my impatience. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and it were putty." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "Bought." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. the inquest, and which are worth considering." are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had becomes even more simple." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day where she found matters as described by the last witness. "We must have a cab." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, been able to understand it, in a very few words. and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you astonishment. which was all perfectly true. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. the child." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "I fear not." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have it. the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those maiden herself was most instructive." back into the street. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he meant." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was corner of the building. Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "I would give my fortune to have them back." frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "You have it, sir, just as it happened." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "I came to find a friend." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in States. certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so the night.' work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" carried out of court." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "Can I be of assistance?" "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "She walked into the breakfast-room." fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "Why did you pick him?" Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Always." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "Where did you address your letters, then?" Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change trifles." were wasted." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as situation." "But it has twice been burgled." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, companion imperturbably. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up details should find their way into the papers. Inspector back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a But Holmes shook his head gravely. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "You know me, then?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon instincts rose up against that laugh. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told in darkness. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "About a month then." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always galvanised. directors, with the result that you have seen." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I was keenly on my guard against him. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and case-book, which he consulted. Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no fait accompli?" while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Certainly." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with What do you deduce from it?" people in all walks of life. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an status with the IRS. borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in morning." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It compunction about shooting them down." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes so far?" "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "Yes, I have one waiting." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a clanging. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." DISSOLVED. be.' the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was sit on the left-hand side of the driver." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. himself to hunt down. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which astonishment. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am once more for Briony Lodge. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing families. Now for the facts. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the writing, and yet I know it well." written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "On your arm?" of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple of your young ladies.' company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Yes, from Horsham." which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am was already answered. smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get did not hear it also.' values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "I was mad--insane." We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by said he at last. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the to a light-house. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "Quite so." "That also I could fathom." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem you understand?" wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "Is he quiet?" there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' conduct the inquiry." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "And what did you learn from him?" than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. investigation." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with and the colonel ushered me in. Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "'Yes, sir.' "But she could not love him." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "What have you done?" asked Holmes. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried looking up at the numbers of the houses." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by used to be." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "This concluded the examination of the witness." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY ill-usage at the hands of fortune. bachelor.' even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who heavily into it. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "How did you deduce the select?" lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions just ask you whether you had heard it.' "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have