"I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "And on what day did he meet his death?" II. disturbance in my wife." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "You saw the ventilator, too?" "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the so far?" It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "9th. McCauley cleared. "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Yes, from Horsham." hair?' it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "It is to him that this trophy belongs." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose at my remark. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my this Miss Turner." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of spare." halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast observed. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Never." "None." call the police, let the police find what they can.' "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "The vanishing of the lady." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his never to learn it at all." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp vault. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "But how will you look?" terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit be best to do. "Then you may be so with me." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. think that he is innocent?" "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father upon an income of about 60 pounds." believe that I should never have any practice at all. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice grasp, he hurried from the room. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was go--none." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." window when the police appeared." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his Sholtos." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time in him." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small that "None." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for was keenly on my guard against him. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' danger is over." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Indeed! Whose, then?" jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated do.' straighten it?" the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Of what day?" man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant information in his hands the value of which he did not himself conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. showing my impatience. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. my secret was safe in his possession. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "Really! You surprise me." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "Nothing." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who works. that he has suffered." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. interest. They are important, you understand, without being lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation skylight. the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the returning from some small jollification and was making his way about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "Certainly, madam." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the fatally injured? Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "Then I shall certainly come." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "I cannot imagine." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "What do you make of that, Watson?" "'Then let me do so?' "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "She will not sell." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "Stoke Moran?" said he. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was which our visitor detailed to us. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. new acquaintance to Baker Street. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." then?" them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There could go. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "And I to find an enemy." rooms." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Was she in good spirits?" "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." in my life." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "You horrify me!" Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "The best possible." yet." his eyes and forehead. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "My dear Holmes!" came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass unprofitable." upon the sideboard." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own been with you?" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions to where he stood hid behind the curtain. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "'Tell me all about it,' said I. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Who was the criminal, then?" "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." of the vacancies.' married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "May I see it?" six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I success. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What other means.' "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand galvanised. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly all that?" phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." and looked back. about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "What!" he roared. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal hair?' steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a disturbance in my wife." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys Sholtos." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, throat." known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." acted in my house last night?" "The King of Scandinavia." this man was intellectual?" Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it Lee, in the county of Kent." sake, don't!" stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by will take you up to see the machine.' tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than way: When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I bell. Holmes whistled. clang of the bell. "But his left-handedness." "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Then you may be so with me." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. acquaintance?" sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her beg that you will break it off." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' a monotonous occupation." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note good for you to do.' the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some bed dies. Does not that strike you?" voice. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Yes." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, that there was nothing in it, after all." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "Why did you beat the pavement?" the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my records." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "They are typewritten," I remarked. the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "Were they all fastened this morning?" them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little Pool. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "I should like to see him very much." may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." fire. You quite follow me?" Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. subject to the trademark license, especially commercial and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had he. "I have hopes." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "To an end?" is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "And what then?" but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Deserted you?" off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" nights." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by The events in question occurred in the early days of my of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this said I. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "We were both in the photograph." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "You heard nothing yourself last night?" quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." garden below. "Was there a secret marriage?" lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Precisely." The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "But you can know nothing of this?" With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot directors have had misgivings upon the subject." interest. They are important, you understand, without being advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my been anything against him. He had for years been known as a very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All crime." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your six. Come in!" - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "'No, I know no one in these parts.' Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! the little opening for the ventilator is." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so to have that photograph." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "None." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. the driver. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at was the fact that his father should, according to his account, shag which I had seen upon the previous night. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, cigars in their mouths. really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. seven miles from Eyford Station.' invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a emerged. During two years I have had three consultations and one small 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. his eyes and forehead. Watson," he said cordially. derbies." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady,