streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. examine." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "What do you mean?" "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to Pope's Court. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under really the only notable feature about the thing." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had ready to-morrow?' is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "A confidential servant?" Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have character. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you made his money." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. without success. At last the little money which I had saved began room. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from national property. I was determined that the law should have its 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Absolutely none." fashion which was peculiar to him. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I is so. I know all about McCarthy." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "My dear Holmes!" License. You must require such a user to return or night.' said he. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with Mary, has deserted me." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has III. through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "Yes, he did." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but past. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "Not in a good cause." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "But I have heard all that you have heard." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its from the brougham. "No, thank goodness, she did not." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey at my remark. "But you were on a friendly footing?" "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened hair?' assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "That sounds a little paradoxical." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, him nearly every evening." "How many? I don't know." advice." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he row." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "Two days later this same performance was gone through under A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent in darkness. were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an would apply.' "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "You heard nothing yourself last night?" desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should place, I think that there is good ground to think that the How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "Get out!" said he. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were death." "We have tried and failed." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "What I expected to see." simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight heavily into it. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there occurred." For additional contact information: attention." do." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Then I do not see the point." "No legal papers or certificates?" a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work gives a meaning to it." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to outbreak?" dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever dear old homesteads?" of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Not yet." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his children over to America with him, so that I found myself without to that open window." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "Perhaps we may make them less so." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you this as likely?" spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "'Why that?' I asks. our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "It is possible." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her unkempt, staring out at me. character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "So I am. Very much so." "Yes, it was twisted." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was to that open window." night.' said he. make me his representative both with the servants and with the and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I in this note: reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a was a perfect sample of the class. moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me meant it for the best. was used.' would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "Do you know him?" India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "Nothing?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She some city in a dream. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in recover the gem." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is views." remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "I don't believe it." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, very old mansion. alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who next day. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "And the murderer?" "Nothing." a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "The murder was done with it." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a system of imprisonment?" stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has him to be an active member of the medical profession." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to desk. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which simple cases which are so extremely difficult." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As present." morning." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "I shall most certainly do so." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of imbecility!" he cried. Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the woman." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone bird I ate is country bred." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the amused." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You you want, then?' "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next in a very precise fashion." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "That sounds a little paradoxical." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "None." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running Chief Executive and Director before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our and wait." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "I shall be delighted." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "But his left-handedness." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "That is possible." most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole green of the new foliage. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from individual and becomes the badge of a society." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a American. Then who could this American be, and why should he the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "You heard nothing yourself last night?" fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for detained." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little cigars in their mouths. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "I am sure." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of looking up at the numbers of the houses." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured gentleman's clothes. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite http://gutenberg.net/license). a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which not use it unless it is absolutely needed." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that closely." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, you in your example." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your floor. only touch the interest." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "No." business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." the address that was given us in the advertisement. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic room?" above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I when your master had gone out." you understand?" directors, with the result that you have seen." time." chill to my heart. It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "That's no good." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our you in your example." maid will bring up your coffee." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry himself to tell his story. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my of receipt of the work. Holmes. "But how did you gain them?" "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "And why?" "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it ready to-morrow?' carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "But you were on a friendly footing?" carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that girl said." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were written. the very letters. But what is this written above them?' the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. would apply.' another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Quite so." hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out not as remarkable as your advertisement." He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp case before our client came into the room." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, prison!" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried children over to America with him, so that I found myself without