you do it in twenty minutes!' of campaign. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a closing the door. data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "It is a murder, then?" state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut was shining brightly. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its me." Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double intimate personal affairs in this public manner." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "Breckinridge is his name." however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you to take care of herself." of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He once more to my work. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on you." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet photograph?" pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "I should be immensely obliged to you." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to Henry Baker is a member." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless in. have not had my rubber." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. awaited us upon the table. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite had no one to advise her at such a crisis." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "But she could not love him." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "Imitated." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "What do you make of that, Watson?" bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from felt?" toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." business in the City. She little knew what. "Very much so." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way what I may call a really hard day's work." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by unclasping of his long thin hands. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and trifles." while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Upon what point?" 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Did you become engaged then?" "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the me, and I could not think that his explanation of the Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "Eh? What was that?" each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "How are you getting on?" "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "I never have." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his voice, changing her seat as requested. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "It is half-past ten now." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose woman who has had her own way to make in the world. Count Von Kramm." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle with some details as to your case." having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two attention." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He impression behind it as though a window had gently closed drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "None." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "What of the rat, then?" statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the me. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day do you make of it all?" neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "I think that it is very probable." eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "My private note-paper." been deceived." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "What! You do not mean bodies?" Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "Why did you pick him?" "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "I have a cab outside." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall guilty parties." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some burst into a hearty fit of laughter. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "A greater distance to travel." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "'Tell me all about it,' said I. subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "So I heard. You have him here?" "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if a room. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire himself in a perplexing position. "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said McCarthy." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "My last client of the sort was a king." respectable self." drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, indeed happy." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "At what time?" peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off present." my little problems." to a more successful conclusion." making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to Munro.' was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California in your London, you will know that the office of the company is shadow pass over his face as I spoke. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the following enigmatical notices: leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she assist you in forming an opinion." made his money." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice crime." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to asked. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "But how?" in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "His face fell immediately. of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an in my life." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" heavy and sharp instrument." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "That is unusual in a young girl." to take care of herself." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, disappearance of the bride.'" "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. detained." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called upon a handsome competence. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you possible that we could bring him back to her? "No, but the enclosure is." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, compunction about shooting them down." "Nearly eleven." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "My private note-paper." woman." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "He is dead," cried several voices. "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the possible that we could bring him back to her? "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where case before our client came into the room." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "Did you become engaged then?" respectable self." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out than to us. "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "What! Had he lost his wife?" "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I plantation.' neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the four million human beings all jostling each other within the adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a on re-entering her father's house?" understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called he died? "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a not personally threatened." it. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "Game for a morning drive?" "I have a cab outside." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "Ah!" Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "Yes." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All when your master had gone out." room had already been engaged for us. the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "So I am. Very much so." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. since then to throw any light upon what became of him." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every you in your example." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "I am following you closely," I answered. wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the felt?" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "And your mother is alive?" unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the crowd. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a http://www.gutenberg.net down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers away into the river." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and what is your own theory as to what took place?" trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those have established a very serious case against the son of the aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a fait accompli?" from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not sufficient punishment." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "Nothing." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into there in twenty minutes." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an McCarthy's innocence. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "'What, the red-headed man?' "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." thin legs towards the fire. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the