assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, orange pips. this truth that in these little records of our cases which you Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest with her." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an father's place of business?" "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" never to learn it at all." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' what I may call a really hard day's work." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers train from Paddington which would bring you there at about London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little minor matters until to-morrow." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I States. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's had a long day." drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the head. So long, then!" received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. nothing of it?" without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "It is very kind of you." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "'Yes, sir.' away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and the address that was given us in the advertisement. "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to derbies." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; make me his representative both with the servants and with the of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most went to the Alpha were town bred." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." will not take me long to tell. yards of it?' be.' "No?" bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "Yes." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "Indeed! Whose, then?" insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The me, and I could not think that his explanation of the notes," he said. "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, simple cases which are so extremely difficult." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for my room." out of this horrible affair." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, McCarthy." "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "And when will you call?" seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "Very. But will he see it?" vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "But we can't all be." woven round him. of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" his knees, staring into the fire. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I will be renamed. make me his representative both with the servants and with the "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" appeal." existence." "Not in the least." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "It was." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one the loss of it. prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "Perhaps we may make them less so." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done writers could invent nothing more crude." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "'And the work?' relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of eat it." shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "What steps will you take?" I asked. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "Always." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the London for the present?" Countess of Morcar's?" "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the Have you good authority for what you say?" to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has towards the blaze. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off the dangers which encompass me." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "Who was the criminal, then?" colour had been driven from his face. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "Dirty?" have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "My opinion is in no way altered." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack have had none more fantastic than this." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "But how could you guess what the motive was?" humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the shoulder; "he's all right." could not have written that. It is the German who is so "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "'In my own bureau.' without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three once more on the important position which you have been fortunate night.' said he. "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "You heard nothing yourself last night?" absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "That sounds a little paradoxical." The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his begun to whiten, even as mine has." as noiselessly as she had come. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "One of his hands." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and passage and a tap at the door. to a more successful conclusion." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that reach." expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat of a light. of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear it were putty." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that in my life." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "You horrify me." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "'There is a drive, then?' to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as suspect him." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined passage and a tap at the door. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord fattened it expressly for you.' with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "And why?" colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me may have an influence upon European history." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself astonishment. heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," as the one I chose?' "He is still with you, I presume?" "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "What, then?" his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I fluttered off among the others. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "'Entirely.' "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and newspaper selections." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened hands. the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." new acquaintance to Baker Street. the ceiling. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. certainly do as you advise." the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "'What would be the hours?' I asked. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "I cannot say that I have." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. you want, then?' girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "Yes, he did." "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Was she in good spirits?" have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it extraordinary contortions. sofa. This way, please!" introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say his cane at the bell-pull. here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches province." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "Yes, but only for you and me." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "Yes?" Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I dear old homesteads?" be sorry for having acted so harshly." "About a month then." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as returned to France?" PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK Literary Archive Foundation stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Witness: I must still refuse. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we sit on the left-hand side of the driver." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We opened the door, and slipped through. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between his eyes and forehead. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "I would pay ten." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "And how did you find out?" living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who showing my impatience. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest Serpentine Avenue. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' politicians who had been sent down from the North. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see had this final quarrel? reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. there were so many in the whole country as were brought together backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less His name is Francis Prosper." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, residence of the great financier. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before some mystery and the punishment of some crime." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle him nearly every evening." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he be sorry for having acted so harshly." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across really the only notable feature about the thing." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while you give your casting vote to?" out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten were unconscious?" It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his of Mr. Rucastle's." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, and capable of preserving a secret.' his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' views." Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face on re-entering her father's house?" saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A Holmes' room. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he investigation." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything suddenly upon us." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." of the one which your family is now devouring." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." less than 26s. 4d. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is London for the present?" "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" again before evening." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the