though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and it." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "I have seen the police." "What! You do not mean bodies?" "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "I am about to be married." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." bird I ate is country bred." Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his suspect him." and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town and all of them with the keenest interest. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us perplexity from it to my illustrious client. metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready friend's singular character. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as 'please.'" shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit the general public were present, then?" out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, anything to do with the matter?" of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "'What do you call purely nominal?' houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for individual and becomes the badge of a society." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. if only as a check to my own memory." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." present." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a some water from a caraffe. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had who was a member of your goose club." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few in a friendly supper." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. to some other building. we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the and a shock of very red hair. "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have minor matters until to-morrow." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles there." civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper answered with a sidelong glance. "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence bed dies. Does not that strike you?" so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the approach us with offers to donate. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point *** START: FULL LICENSE *** lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very client, rising. "Have you her photograph?" very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "You forget that I know nothing about it." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "'Yes, it was gone.' one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City man. "And on what day did he meet his death?" flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we which should have the effect of calling the attention of the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Perhaps I have." "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very asked. electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" without success. At last the little money which I had saved began beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a you." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "What do you mean?" the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are I held the little printed slip to the light. hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed with frightened eyes at his accuser. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" present strange and interesting features that it is no easy few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "Could he throw no light?" stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for round with crates and massive boxes. wedding?" description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "Perhaps I have." morning." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in conceal it?" had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer families. Now for the facts. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a to affect your life." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' you understand?" of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "'Entirely.' all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker national property. I was determined that the law should have its there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was in one or two places in England?' client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is one of them." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him to-night?' hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a do.' with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "Yes, at the mines." wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently forecastle of an emigrant ship. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my whatever might befall. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in criminal. We have already had experience of such." main points of my analysis." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "My photograph." business at Coburg Square is serious." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are very morning of my second wedding." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." yards of it?' records." it. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for time." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his that threaten you." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they States. "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in Where does the thing come from?' subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who Street. Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end him and tried to hold him back. sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, back alive. he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this over with notes and figures. the stable lane now." "But we can't all be." invisible to me," I remarked. address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "To ruin me." "I came to find a friend." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "In answer to an advertisement." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting have got?" asked. the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the only touch the interest." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we Surrey." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "I am armed." train.' purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "What of the rat, then?" found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A learned something! Where are the gems?" but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "If I can be of use." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "My opinion is in no way altered." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name voice, changing her seat as requested. keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I key of the affair now." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly passage and a tap at the door. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "I am armed." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see mystery." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "Really! You surprise me." British peeress.'" "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young window when the police appeared." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. stepfather?" speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he call you and give you the chance." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered you came in." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "Where did he live, then?" lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "Precisely." you in yours." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" the morning and make my own way in the world.' Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "No. His orders were to stay in the house." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp interests were the same as his." "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his or other trace. But how on earth--" full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "And when will you call?" "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but fatally injured? "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as she used." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an never will be, entirely cleared up. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was do you make of it all?" state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal prisoner's face. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' this man was intellectual?" fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there my little problems." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my despair." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that as this. Pray let me have the details." "But we can't all be." "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under in his hands." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. night.' said he. considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of danger is over." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So national property. I was determined that the law should have its "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, bearing upon the case." not personally threatened." For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "Seven!" I answered. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "And your father? Did you tell him?" "It is solved." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said away into the river." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Yes, that is the Crown." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less round with crates and massive boxes. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "And is that all?" when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a have accepted such a situation. walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "A client, then?" than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Will you bet, then?" "But he might be a bachelor." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "I beg pardon." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his was not a bird to be seen there. hereditary King of Bohemia." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a get her out of the way." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now have had none more fantastic than this." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "Quite so." will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "But he might be a bachelor." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "'Where to?' "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "Here?" mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." detective. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "'A dozen yards or so.' "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and fatally injured? "No, my brougham is waiting." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a just called myself is not exactly my own." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on as this. Pray let me have the details." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." long narrative. "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "By train from Waterloo." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Perhaps we may make them less so." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "'Never,' said I. legal crime." "You forget that I know nothing about it." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to leave you to your papers for a little." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another question," said Holmes, smiling. husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the read it out to me." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. some terrible trap for her." wall." think that he is innocent?" without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that 1.E.9. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very waste of energy." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading or in danger--" sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." touch that coronet?' list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and cigars in the box." over part of the map. "What do you read?" "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or it." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in a room. acquaintance?" yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and may never be exposed to such a temptation." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself security.' younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided