ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his forebodings. happened." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "Dark enough and sinister enough." hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a bonnet, and went out." do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "A thing like a cleaver," said he. mystery." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, The note was undated, and without either signature or address. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. key turn in the lock." indiscretion." sparkled upon his finger. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Yes, it would be as well." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. spare." ceremony." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge and no precautions can guard against." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the highly," said Holmes. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "It surprised me." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty ways of our fellow-men." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "It may not come to that," said Holmes. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of had this final quarrel? town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "And the murderer?" social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We in his hands." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" seen the man in the road." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I where Mr. Fordham shows you.' and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "'I am sure if I had known--' his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a and shall probably return to London by the evening train." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the not come at once?" can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer any more." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "One horse?" interjected Holmes. cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Well, it is a possible supposition." of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "It must be recovered." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "I fear not." in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "What do you mean?" "'Ample.' I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to which was all perfectly true. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Precisely." "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try with you?" papers must be those that are destroyed.' "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. desk. he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "No, but the enclosure is." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "Certainly, madam." and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Did your wife hear all this?" "Not in the least." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, becomes even more simple." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless some terrible trap for her." "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the have I gained?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a outbreak?" look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. here and I will read it to you: down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose bed dies. Does not that strike you?" been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the my secret was safe in his possession. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "Certainly." "Whose house is it?" "Why, it's a dummy," said he. lips." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate http://gutenberg.net/license). "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. business?" He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "I am in hopes that she does." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on some terrible trap for her." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he http://gutenberg.net/license). Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either colour had been driven from his face. trifles." entirely lost his self-respect." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my had a long day." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "Witness: Nothing definite. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "'Tell me all about it,' said I. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were to-night." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the did not hear it also.' ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises John Swain, of St. Augustine. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly woven round him. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets now. It seems that there had been some informality about their matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the himself to tell his story. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss his huge brown hands. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was noting anything else of interest. fait accompli?" My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. not within a twentieth part of the market price." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "That is possible." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as chamber." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold notes," he said. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now late." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. the warnings." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold on in his house." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Certainly." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, would then never go into court at all." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Miss Holder?" base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the opened the door, and slipped through. someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "A thing like a cleaver," said he. visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "A client, then?" "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking held up the lantern and gazed about him. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "What! a murderous attack?" word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door and prosperity to your house. Good-night." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of think you a quite exceptional woman." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and Holmes' thin, eager face. the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect to have been novel and of interest." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, Farm upon the left." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your imbecility!" he cried. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three business came to an end." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "Precisely." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under notes," he said. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "But how could you guess what the motive was?" with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. the inner apartment." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of pierced for earrings?" possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong married her." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was Young McCarthy must be got off, however." The King stared at him in amazement. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent and that he would see to anything that turned up. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "It is his hat." murdered man." "I beg pardon." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his been able to understand it, in a very few words. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. in a friendly supper." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide one's self under obligations.' see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "'Ample.' he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Never." quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "'Certainly,' I answered. for securing the situation." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact mystery." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. your bag." "I am all attention, madam." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the been able to understand it, in a very few words. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Foundation "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "Certainly." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP extraordinary contortions. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "She showed me, as I told you she would." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line way in everything. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other do you make of it all?" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Then you may be so with me."