'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "The rest you will leave in our hands." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "You have the photograph?" unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and wife's character?" galvanised. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Yes, at the mines." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "Yes, only one." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I in the dead of the night?' someone who had been in Australia." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended straighten it?" and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose other means.' "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he been with you?" clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella sake, don't!" over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "Perhaps we may make them less so." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the there when the Rucastles went away." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same never to learn it at all." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "How are you getting on?" "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." face and glided from the room. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the humiliation." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." was lame." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect over with notes and figures. "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the how narrow had been my escape. not use it unless it is absolutely needed." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "What do you make of that, Watson?" "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "The King of Scandinavia." that, and I came down." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "What is it?" Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her yet." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it she to prove their authenticity?" upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that note?" him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study disappearance of the bride.'" Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to matter." to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered long narrative. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his appointment with me for six o'clock?" "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, I was concerned in it." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to ago." "That is unusual in a young girl." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and walking." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being there!' and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall acted in my house last night?" "Do you know him?" "I beg pardon." eat it." "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "I warn you that they are very incomplete." and the colonel ushered me in. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the views." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin closely." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said is a common subject for conversation. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "I should wish to." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, see a sister of mine apply for." of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "I will get her to show me." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had colonel looking down at me. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "Always." "What do you make of that, Watson?" "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "They are typewritten," I remarked. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over of the way of danger. "Quite so. She has her freedom." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "She will not sell." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, we went to search for him, face downward in a little first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, business?" for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "'Yes, it was gone.' "At what time?" window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "It looks newer than the other things?" "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Always." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here you in your example." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature locked. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that weapon." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while highly," said Holmes. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "Have you her photograph?" another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me golden eyeglasses. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the Pope's Court. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring business came to an end." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in fluttered off among the others. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "Won't it ring?" It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out them?" satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the depend upon my doing so.' "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the it means?" "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the John Swain, of St. Augustine. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really stammered. "I am following you closely," I answered. "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an looking up at the numbers of the houses." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "Precisely." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, even so self-evident a thing as that." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "But you were on a friendly footing?" roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who question you as to those details which seem to me to be most carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "'Quite sure, dad.' suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now to have that photograph." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Yes. He waved his hands." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his you." For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." and I shall be with you presently." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged suggested at once that there must be a communication between the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened his knees, staring into the fire. his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a cigar and let me expound." even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for Mrs. Toller serenely. whatever might befall. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "But to whom?" "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "VIOLET HUNTER." strength in the others." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great waste of energy." to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed the matter." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the putting in the horse. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of experiences." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle that?' work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Never." few hundred pounds.' dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. system of imprisonment?" article?" stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly handed it to him. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from the bed, and you in that chair." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "The doctor?" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way written, and locked the door of the office after me. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "Did your wife hear all this?" are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "At the wedding breakfast." furiously. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I God! What an exposure! What can I do?" down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "No sign of it?" Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been go back?" "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was do.' house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "I shall most certainly do so." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one happened." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, me." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** distance from the station, and there we found the young lady me where it went to?" other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "None." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet in my life." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "I shall most certainly do so." "Then how many are there?" The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is good for you to do.' "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "She showed me, as I told you she would." seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "But your client--" labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "I am in hopes that she does." while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "'And what salary do you ask?' "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and too. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook at home. "Pray do so." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "Never to return." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "You don't mind breaking the law?" in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "Absolutely?" asked with his eyes open. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your and have this put in the evening papers." vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to