interested in these little problems, and since you are good journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid any little problem which you may submit to me." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. sofa. This way, please!" sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left is now desirous of getting those letters back." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I fattened it expressly for you.' there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this detective. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Thank you. Pray proceed." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "You have a clue?" As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. in one or two places in England?' when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock your most interesting statement." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian the running down." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into tapping his fingers upon the table. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other rooms." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "And it is--" to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the respectable self." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The my little problems." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. politicians who had been sent down from the North. "How many? I don't know." "'And what salary do you ask?' that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through asked. and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "And how in the world did you find them?" "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. it with his own hands." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "We must sit without light. He would see it through the advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "My stepfather's business papers." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. could go. our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? that deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "I say it is." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Where, indeed?" however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "You don't mind breaking the law?" left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "An accident, I presume?" unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "'Most admirably.' passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the sufficient punishment." cup of tea. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, sake, don't!" no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind other, as fresh and trim as possible. for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. it right.' fasten all the windows?" surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "You are certainly joking, Holmes." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "My dear Holmes!" ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' late." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. touch that coronet?' ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The only touch the interest." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with even so self-evident a thing as that." coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a said I. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "ARAT," I read. Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "It must be recovered." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "I say it is." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined The note was undated, and without either signature or address. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "Not him." "To the police?" assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at indeed happy." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You begin with, and I had not got mine yet." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and used to be." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "Very much so." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "You have the photograph?" own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "Ah, but I was recommended to you." hair?' Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by appeal." place, I think that there is good ground to think that the and laid it on the table. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As the dangers which encompass me." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, lamp. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in pressing in one house as in another. "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which the driver. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "What then?" "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "There is the writing." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made help us in this matter." the side-table." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each second." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We Henry Baker is a member." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. some city in a dream. "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master experiences." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been happened." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "What! Had he lost his wife?" as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm a few minutes he said that it would be all right. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. them present such singular features as the strange train of "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that weigh very heavily upon my conscience." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either fish-monger and a tide-waiter." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. sake, don't!" matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it relief. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "And you don't know his address?" discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than and it need not interfere very much with one's other approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that your most interesting statement." "He is dead," cried several voices. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Where to?" hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend Leave Paddington by the 11:15." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "Yes." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he bled considerably." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "But I have heard all that you have heard." read it out to me." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of little adventures." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "In San Francisco, a year ago." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Nothing." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets newspaper selections." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Certainly." pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a direction." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and again." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "Your presence might be invaluable." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and already been minutely examined." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish than was visible to me." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" get her out of the way." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel you understand?" This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think the stable lane now." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong confronted him. and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his conversation I have gathered that they have been married about entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The where Mr. Fordham shows you.' at a side door. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had this poor creature." simple cases which are so extremely difficult." doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had have got?" that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. our word." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in than to us. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "A call for help, you thought?" Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "Was the window open?" were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to lamp. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. the south-west, I see." "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. letters?" of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall next day. "No, I am descending." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, habit of advancing money.' invisible to me," I remarked. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "In answer to an advertisement." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his for its centre. chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "But what harm can there be in that?" most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "What have you to say now?" and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at conclusions. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "'I have already given you my word.' "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave I. offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "No, I am descending." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. written. as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "But how will you look?" surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring."