"Two days later this same performance was gone through under after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of matter." "So it appears." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no the tragedy. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "No?" tied." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been of receipt of the work. with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your suddenly upon us." "What do you mean?" sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "I will get her to show me." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, exactly what you advise." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "That is not always so easy." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you chair. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 populous neighbourhood." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without enter into my head. wanted for ourselves." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which During two years I have had three consultations and one small the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "That was it, sir." could not have written that. It is the German who is so "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "'Is purely nominal.' case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was this poor creature." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly fluttered off among the others. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, made him keep the appointment." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most bell. Holmes whistled. voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. you." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." back into the street. commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless foot. with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul on in his house." "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "It must be recovered." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the the night.' the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." bird I ate is country bred." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for imbecility!" he cried. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "I warn you that they are very incomplete." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I quick march!" speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich http://www.gutenberg.net chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "On your arm?" inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." works. See paragraph 1.E below. over here." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on lost his Christmas dinner." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully what do you think they found in the pockets?" and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "You horrify me." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil Sutherland?" chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little as this. Pray let me have the details." straighten it?" Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try point our research must commence, and we will begin it by Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, the King without delay." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will Does that suggest anything?" "What! Had he lost his wife?" no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel the coronet in his hand?" claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "No, I am descending." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which you?' "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home door?" morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. to affect your life." towards the blaze. chance at all." But Holmes shook his head gravely. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means drawing your inferences." thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in then?" mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all telegram would bring me down to your help." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" dramatic, in fact." was keenly on my guard against him. What do you deduce from it?" Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and cigars in their mouths. "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE said he. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then new duties?' human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Nothing." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I fasten all the windows?" "Yes, the wine-cellar." Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "What shall I do?" my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "But not more so than I to find you." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That weigh very heavily upon my conscience." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and place of silver." purpose equally well?" "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage his wife has ceased to love him." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong what do you think they found in the pockets?" and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come passage and a tap at the door. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "Stolen, then." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what without success. At last the little money which I had saved began the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their way in everything. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and the night.' few hundred pounds.' have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' we went to search for him, face downward in a little was not a bird to be seen there. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no help us in this matter." that I can to serve you." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "Certainly, madam." took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic opportunities to fix the problem. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of sentimental considerations in the background which would induce and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "The best possible." "'Yes, sir.' From what you have told me I think that it is possible that set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "It is true that I have been generally successful." shoulder. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the extraordinary contortions. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on the coronet in his hand?" Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Pray do so." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their of the efforts of the United States government and of the better the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. this unhappy family?" "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for lectures into a series of tales." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "What will you do, then?" down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "Not I." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these the King without delay." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "But she will refuse." in this way: "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm developed." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will said I. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to Dr. Gregory B. Newby "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "Certainly." father's place of business?" The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when in one or two places in England?' she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. arrangements." my friend's incisive reasoning. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. disappearance of these gems?" ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in 11:15.' "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated are windows in it, of course?" particular state visit http://pglaf.org she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Quite so. She has her freedom." "On your arm?" "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he way in everything. anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two The note was undated, and without either signature or address. visitors." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "I will get her to show me." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or she slowly sank and died without having recovered her not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that and wait." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I Heh?' contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." through." this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "My last client of the sort was a king." of his shoulders. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "'In my own bureau.' "Ample." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the have an American origin." business at Coburg Square is serious." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was case before our client came into the room." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my bare slabs of marble. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "Always." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no the coronet at all injured?" the matter?" his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not without a word or a look. you do it in twenty minutes!' upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in system of imprisonment?" "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties my little problems." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "Did you become engaged then?" did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a