scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable the loss of it. "No." "No?" "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "And Miss Sutherland?" even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would heavy and sharp instrument." "Yes." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some spare." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in there has been an enclosure here!" "You horrify me!" the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, sparkled upon his finger. most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her to-night's adventure." and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "I say it is." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "It is very kind of you." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of the driver. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a the child." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Now, then, what's the last entry?" shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "Was your sister dressed?" river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which could not account in any way for the presence of the missing homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "You horrify me!" dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "You will not go there first?" inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "But his left-handedness." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." compunction about shooting them down." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my in his power. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about definite end. British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, sound at heart." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and way: the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of and the colonel ushered me in. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they already referred to. "Nothing." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or had no one to advise her at such a crisis." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my case before our client came into the room." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind business in the City. She little knew what. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and done what I asked you, Jones?" seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural points in connection with it which never have been, and probably formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "Thank you. And your address?" which it had come upon my father." about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but the nursery. travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding along the entire front of the house, with three long windows instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the events than those which have happened in my own family." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary it with his own hands." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "You saw the ventilator, too?" whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the astonishment. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. breakfast." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at with you?" at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a It was close upon four before the door opened, and a the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "You have carte blanche." written, and locked the door of the office after me. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "You did not overhear what they said?" therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for bill, which interests me deeply." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "'In my own bureau.' "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "No. What a strange idea!" find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "I will not look." and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he ceremony." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon records." hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a of his shoulders. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "What! You do not mean bodies?" the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "You think so, too?" Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "Well, it is a possible supposition." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "Perhaps we may make them less so." "But I have heard all that you have heard." formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to only touch the interest." seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, was lame." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "But of what society?" "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were appointment with me for six o'clock?" heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to distance from the station, and there we found the young lady landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the were wasted." girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I been deceived." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have Holmes rather sternly. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" chance at all." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut see a sister of mine apply for." future lives." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two see me here to avoid scandal." entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, mystery!" See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they your billet.' manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had then?" do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly wanted for ourselves." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." thirty. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "This concluded the examination of the witness." "Her father is very rich?" "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled or in danger--" dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Pray be precise as to details," said he. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to this man was intellectual?" second." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, discontent upon his features. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then McCarthy." off." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform business came to an end." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge will find little credit to be gained out of this case." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of the child." "How are you getting on?" "I see many objections to any such theory." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "No." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for Does that suggest anything?" flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, in his hands." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, Where does the thing come from?' that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. strong reason behind." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. to change my dress. little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its hard-headed British jury." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally ordinary clothes on?" A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Chief Executive and Director the one as in the other." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. your equipment. window when the police appeared." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as goes." advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "An enemy?" deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton It was close upon four before the door opened, and a things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and the nursery. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I what do you think they found in the pockets?" feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat been able to understand it, in a very few words. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "And did you observe any change in her then?" had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "I will get her to show me." helping a boy to put up the shutters. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." in this way: I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "The vanishing of the lady." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Yes, he did." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your highroad, where all traces were lost. "The decline of his fortunes, then?" enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but his wife has ceased to love him." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "A client, then?" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for that he has suffered." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point might have a private word with us. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady with some details as to your case." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm to take care of herself." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "'Never,' said I. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "I answered that I had not. "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" you?' I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if that I may have something better before very many minutes are "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "You have a clue?" more solid." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine sofa. This way, please!" stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "Come in!" said Holmes. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "I fear not." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is to-night." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it fattened it expressly for you.' long narrative. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "But how did you gain them?" "Certainly, madam." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "Quite so. She has her freedom." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Will you bet, then?" shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very in this note: still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking where she found matters as described by the last witness. connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a