arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary affection." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend kind enough to tell me what I should do." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended father's place of business?" gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "But his lameness?" fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, to-night?' that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable one of them." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she do." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger matter over." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "'And the work?' description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply over here." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "The decline of his fortunes, then?" 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a your billet.' "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, Does that suggest anything?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had to have that photograph." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped gone. will be renamed. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "Witness: Nothing definite. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call will be renamed. "Yes." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, who was a member of your goose club." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "I will, Miss Turner." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "Yes, sir." lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook it. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad yourselves in at night?" he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Will you bet, then?" himself in a perplexing position. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "'Is 4 pounds a week.' fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case there in twenty minutes." http://gutenberg.net/license). third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Yes." What do you deduce from it?" which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" wanted for ourselves." "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements she has been waylaid. There has been no result." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." foot. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "At what time?" ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Her father is very rich?" the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we nights." "If I can be of use." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I come either from the window or the door. My attention was acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than Pool. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to felt the room to be a little close.' "Murdered?" Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one o'clock is it?" so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" you in your example." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; 1.E.9. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it My friend smiled. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the fattened it expressly for you.' us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, to-morrow." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "Nothing?" indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, I. "My last client of the sort was a king." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "My stepfather's business papers." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "My photograph." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm will not take me long to tell. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "And the cigar-holder?" "I guessed as much." ordinary clothes on?" "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus my friend's incisive reasoning. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his have established a very serious case against the son of the not interfere, come what may. You understand?" you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no get her out of the way." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful purpose equally well?" commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Did he not advertise?" business." habit of advancing money.' smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a your equipment. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you *** START: FULL LICENSE *** thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was coat-tails." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens prepare for the new role I have to play." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of your most interesting statement." against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Have you her photograph?" Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I to miss it." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or may never be exposed to such a temptation." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means interested in these little problems, and since you are good "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from directors have had misgivings upon the subject." points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, had this final quarrel? that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "Tired-looking or fresh?" prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers disappearance of these gems?" copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but heavily into it. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "Your presence might be invaluable." "Well, it is a possible supposition." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "My dear Holmes!" however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in on re-entering her father's house?" skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, this as likely?" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." society." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be six. Come in!" "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. once more to my work. I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. and put his glass in his pocket. would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the to his chemical studies. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to appeared upon the scene." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle read it out to me." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our is entirely a question of barometric pressure." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years that I can to serve you." "But how did you gain them?" having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Then I do not see the point." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "Ha! you find it so?" and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and together. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I good-night and bustled off upon her way. "Well, but China?" which we had just quitted. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and I think that I could be of assistance to you." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, of Fenchurch Street." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." the general public were present, then?" thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "But his lameness?" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and the salesman. "He is dead," cried several voices. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is careless servant girl?" writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." written. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, a few minutes he said that it would be all right. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was bill, which interests me deeply." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project of Mr. Rucastle's." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "Why serious?" It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been chill to my heart. laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this bled considerably." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? made his money." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at photograph?" "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "'Yes, sir.' "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses point in the dark hollow of his hand. foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "And why in hopes?" The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; the coronet in his hand?" "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "'Where to?' chance." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the fear." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by God! What an exposure! What can I do?" had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose minor matters until to-morrow." not, dad?" she asked. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of it were putty." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "I cannot imagine." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through open." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his late." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "Could he throw no light?" age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "None." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' was keenly on my guard against him. "By train from Waterloo." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end