only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "What do you mean?" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was himself. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." to you." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "I say it is." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "And what did you see?" part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his she slowly sank and died without having recovered her photograph a cabinet?" by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if careless servant girl?" "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham six. Come in!" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story Eyford." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "You heard nothing yourself last night?" of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "'Yes, sir.' America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "Very truly yours, help us in this matter." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a geese which you supplied to the Alpha." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came ventilator." to-night?' cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his investigation." the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked been with you?" back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the security.' "No." "It is his hat." just ask you whether you had heard it.' set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" train from Paddington which would bring you there at about of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." as he folded up the epistle. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a drawing your inferences." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "Come in!" said he. matter." know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. prove to be little relation between the different incidents of face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a Lestrade of Scotland Yard." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very roused himself from his reverie. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he me what he had done with the three missing stones. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP go back?" He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "Never." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That girl said." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "In the cells." "Yes, only one." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." possible that we could bring him back to her? "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "Frequently." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his train from Paddington which would bring you there at about higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "Yes." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "No, I had a dozen." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. he bowed and left the room without another word. and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning fluttered off among the others. erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged Heh?' lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "Then the page we have seen--" the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice to-night?' as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for hair?' reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has room. downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. seem to you to be relevant or not." who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "An accident, I presume?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a breakfast and whispered something to her husband. closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open simple cases which are so extremely difficult." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its was feeling which was the fattest.' "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to danger is over." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "What! a murderous attack?" the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of this poor creature." "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes if I call to-morrow?" instincts rose up against that laugh. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "What! a murderous attack?" "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate there were one or two details which were new to me. But the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "How did that help you?" order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "Your sister is dead, then?" matter." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from she has been waylaid. There has been no result." habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my wife's character?" "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do six. Come in!" opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "It looks newer than the other things?" his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such third from London." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social away to you." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Yes." conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "Won't it ring?" already been minutely examined." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many It may be so in this case, also." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "I never have." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You ill-usage at the hands of fortune. He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was colonel looking down at me. Sutherland. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in envelope. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and purpose equally well?" three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit the running down." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," careless servant girl?" Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the approach us with offers to donate. his forehead." a suggestive one." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "And leave your case unfinished?" struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something something of him before." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her wanted for ourselves." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers Surrey." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "It is to him that this trophy belongs." value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. ways including including checks, online payments and credit card License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence things are very often connected not with the larger but with the with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be walking." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then thirty. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. his knees, staring into the fire. populous neighbourhood." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "Not in the least." follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "What do you make of that, Watson?" coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "A client, then?" at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on place of silver." did not hear it also.' once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my Where does the thing come from?' were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to and the whole place is in a blaze." keep the flames under. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' something of him before." memory. "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly his face which made him a very different person to the round, round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is you do it in twenty minutes!' I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, dates and names. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated Again Holmes raved in the air. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short help us in this matter." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "Well, some hundreds of times." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "9th. McCauley cleared. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "Certainly, madam." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear stalked out of the room. watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. was a lad." "But how?" sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "How did you deduce the select?" "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave upon an income of about 60 pounds." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel questionable one." "'Why that?' I asks. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "I am still in the dark." "Ah!" happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his right! Sit down and let us talk it over." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I was a lad." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about Leave Paddington by the 11:15." prepare for the new role I have to play." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried Where does the thing come from?' "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton page at http://pglaf.org however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "How did you deduce the select?" safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his humiliation." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely answer." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, I took the paper from him and read as follows: mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Yes. He waved his hands." "It may not come to that," said Holmes. by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of Arthur Conan Doyle latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I is acting for the best. to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I investigation." highroad, where all traces were lost. three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be may never be exposed to such a temptation." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. breakfast." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, morning." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding emerged. Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "That is unusual in a young girl." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "Then the page we have seen--" police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, swore that no one else had been in the front room during the they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue he bowed and left the room without another word. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm.