spark where all is dark to me." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to their singular warning or token before them when starting upon Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, shall use the carriage to-night." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. himself in a perplexing position. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a shall not find me ungrateful." "Breckinridge is his name." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" said he, "my real name is James Ryder." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you that you saw all that I did." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and to his chemical studies. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love arrangements." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in she used." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him we went to search for him, face downward in a little at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both again on its way. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to the Friday. Was it to be in church?" confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about posted to-day." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. were new raised from a basin. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you Arthur Conan Doyle arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Not in the least." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the plantation.' "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That here and I will read it to you: pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "Yes, sir." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "Has he come with you to-night?" which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Pray do so." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, pressing in one house as in another. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after my friend's incisive reasoning. appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "What then?" but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient envelope. get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "'What, the red-headed man?' one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire room. and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His present." like that before?" common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; that, and I came down." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. we went to search for him, face downward in a little this truth that in these little records of our cases which you and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "Where did you address your letters, then?" him to be an active member of the medical profession." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "Thank you. And your address?" Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now been anything against him. He had for years been known as a I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She of the efforts of the United States government and of the better that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I third from London." against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the think you a quite exceptional woman." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the Holmes. zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right showing my impatience. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "The Coroner: What do you mean? sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project been deceived." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it breakfast?" not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I his face which made him a very different person to the round, "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout secret." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to within hail.' her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned unprecedented a position." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you the address that was given us in the advertisement. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be to where he stood hid behind the curtain. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no I nodded to show that I had heard. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to said I. offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "Of what day?" discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Did your wife hear all this?" crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "'Yes, I promise.' "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Quite so." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Nothing." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "Thank you. Pray proceed." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than appointment with me for six o'clock?" "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too the inner apartment." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, have accepted such a situation. Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "The Coroner: What do you mean? creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. attention." Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the redistribution. "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement wanted for ourselves." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass eat it." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. where we are going." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave them, and came down just as you departed. at a side door. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, a few minutes he said that it would be all right. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to nights." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the chamber." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after always that they were such commands as a lady might with the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute entirely lost his self-respect." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it ourselves in the office." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "And now?" He raised his hand. that I may have something better before very many minutes are probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady read it out to me." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. newspaper selections." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. husband's writing, madam." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "That is it on the dressing-table." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on or in danger--" "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular DAMAGE. succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "'And the work?' Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire your billet.' occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in once more to my work. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are as noiselessly as she had come. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in to that open window." Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the purpose equally well?" his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback simple cases which are so extremely difficult." breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "Where, then?" "So I have heard." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two 'I should be able to look after that for you.' machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he lids now and glanced across at his visitor. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "'Certainly,' I answered. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been served to weaken the effect. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "I cannot imagine." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "My private note-paper." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I voice. "Yes, all." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "If I can be of use." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper your equipment. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Come in!" said Holmes. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "She told me to ask you." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in crackling voice. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and be. "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "It is half-past ten now." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Perhaps we may make them less so." key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how burst out into a roar of laughter. friends, not even his own brother. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, his face. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is your Highness to the police-station?" fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "Why? What do you mean?" Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship in one or two places in England?' "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never handed it to him. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved presented more singular features than that which was associated downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view little trying to do so much typewriting?" "Awake, Watson?" he asked. the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "He said too much." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "But what is it you wish?" by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on