noise which awoke you from your sleep?" her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "That is possible." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "You did not overhear what they said?" lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the the salesman. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already might help us?" the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford legal crime." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, second window is the one that I jumped from." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was certainly do as you advise." heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his is entirely a question of barometric pressure." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, paper in the air. "Yes." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent then?" gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "This photograph!" upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell the dangers which encompass me." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "I was afraid that you were engaged." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the is worth.' Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. you, my dear young lady?' heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "'And the work?' "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my During two years I have had three consultations and one small an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." her also." "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "The Cedars?" "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "But we can't all be." would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to meanly of me." "Certainly." "'About the same.' papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as something of him before." young Openshaw's." "And when will you call?" be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence with the outside air!" in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "'You cannot say what it was?' back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, way: "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "Entirely." "'Stolen!' he cried. has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough will take you up to see the machine.' sit on the left-hand side of the driver." the matter?" dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "It is possible." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing manager. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I I approached. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "Entirely." certainly do as you advise." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a over part of the map. "What do you read?" "And how did you find out?" turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "It looks newer than the other things?" matter over." examine." to a light-house. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down than was visible to me." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Proceed, then." client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "What is it?" "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against to-night." come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and spark where all is dark to me." the bed, and you in that chair." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door means taking possession of that which another person has a prior am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that key of the affair now." owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not quick march!" "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know burst into a hearty fit of laughter. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "I cannot tell." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in 1.F. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "Yes." upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." in a very precise fashion." hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "I was mad--insane." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. himself to tell his story. photograph?" "I see many objections to any such theory." "Yes, only one." "And on what day did he meet his death?" taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "Murdered?" "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed works. at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "A greater distance to travel." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. was feeling which was the fattest.' away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that and capable of preserving a secret.' the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right careless servant girl?" A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was with you alone." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at the coroner come to?" I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a him, that man would not have given me such complete information "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "You don't mind breaking the law?" turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "Never to return." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "And how did you find out?" of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "Certainly." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "That was it, sir." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Perhaps I have." "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. Munro.' and the colonel ushered me in. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a is so. I know all about McCarthy." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of rooms." who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of congenial hunt. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." maiden herself was most instructive." British peeress.'" the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of followed. his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a there were one or two details which were new to me. But the cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," was shining brightly. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so morning." "But how will you look?" presented more singular features than that which was associated glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that your room." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you Clair, of Lee." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "'Stolen!' he cried. "In what way?" asked Holmes. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. ashen face. doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "The gentleman I describe." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital pressing in one house as in another. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our recover the gem." as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I stammered. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "'Yes, sir.' made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "I don't say that. Perhaps." sofa. This way, please!" from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making of Mr. Rucastle's." and the church but not where the lady lived." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to figure." in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and envelope. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and you want, then?' "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, it with his own hands." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great it. "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge drove away. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, http://gutenberg.net/license). grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to very old mansion. bachelor.' key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "But you were on a friendly footing?" cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "Then I do not see the point." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make and all of them with the keenest interest. the room while you explain this matter?" "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "He is dead," cried several voices. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which to affect your life." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "You have compromised yourself seriously." not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "So it appears." reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "I am following you closely," I answered. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "And why?" middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "I am following you closely," I answered. delighted to hear it," he said. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "My dear Holmes!" India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to the very letters. But what is this written above them?' as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from here and I will read it to you: friends, not even his own brother. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend himself. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the one which it was hard to resist. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a characteristics, but those are the more obvious." to talk it over. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "Certainly, madam." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate arms and began to sob in a high treble key. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled paper in the air. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong I nodded again. "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the upon a handsome competence. only touch the interest." his eyes and forehead. I took the paper from him and read as follows: liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by kindly on the shoulder. "In answer to an advertisement." two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. you in yours." certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "'Certainly not. But why?' was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital prison!" And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this once more. fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered I approached. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." have not had my rubber." fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different hurried by. someone who had been in Australia." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not once more on the important position which you have been fortunate sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country you in yours." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this?