salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Nothing." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, he. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "What will you say?" away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you evidence," I remarked. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon was not a bird to be seen there. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and four million human beings all jostling each other within the answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, coroner's jury." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning married her." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security said Mr. Holder. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose all?" cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are had died away into the silence from which it rose. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him morning." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the away in different directions, and I went off to make my own He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "It came here." examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, death." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by of them has the shutters up.' "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm there was no need for father to know." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "No good news?" brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could woman." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I husband's writing, madam." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending mysterious end." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right written, and locked the door of the office after me. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you not within a twentieth part of the market price." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without introspective fashion. "But how?" been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, thin, with a long, sharp nose?" yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "I will, Miss Turner." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had closing the door. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "From his hat?" "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' lumber-room." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a look upon these things in a different way." best detective that ever lived. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. round with crates and massive boxes. transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came Holmes' thin, eager face. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his see a sister of mine apply for." the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "Not yet." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact awkward doing business with an alias." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "In the cells." provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant behind me. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own fashion which was peculiar to him. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon the morning and make my own way in the world.' "Yes." "Was she in good spirits?" "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a over his head with a sweet womanly caress. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "'Certainly,' I answered. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had I think that I could be of assistance to you." collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole four million human beings all jostling each other within the To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "It surprised me." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." maiden herself was most instructive." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right and have this put in the evening papers." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and one else, I think." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre the very morning of the wedding." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "Come in!" said he. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than forecastle of an emigrant ship. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." must compliment you." formed some opinion?" companion quietly. redistribution. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very sooner or later she must fall a victim. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Your sister is dead, then?" his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Then you may be so with me." fuss that is made over them." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from said he. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." too. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and of the vacancies.' France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, jewels which you have stolen?' particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I maiden herself was most instructive." to surprise her." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a eat it." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "Then what has happened to him?" metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the lamp in his hand. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Where, then, is my wife?" John Swain, of St. Augustine. accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she the room while you explain this matter?" young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "And the cigar-holder?" probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the yourselves in at night?" questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "In heaven's name, what for?" Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this nothing of it?" he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "And is that all?" they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you persecution?" certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle green of the new foliage. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, the warnings." occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "What can it mean?" I gasped. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** perplexity from it to my illustrious client. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "But his left-handedness." from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "'I am sure if I had known--' purpose of examination. respectable self." "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building danger is over." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. security.' "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough one else, I think." woven round him. discontent upon his features. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the disappearance of the bride.'" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever carried out of court." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "But she could not love him." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save of the vacancies.' of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love even so self-evident a thing as that." electronic works the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: distance from the station, and there we found the young lady Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in I shall continue with my miserable story. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I that he will be back before evening." standing smiling on the door-step. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Entirely." was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "Yes, he did." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "I have come for advice." careless servant girl?" Sutherland. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "It is his hat." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Then, as to money?" "What?" than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and husband's writing, madam." dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses of Mr. Rucastle's." opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried Holmes. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from once more on the important position which you have been fortunate I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "And for present expenses?" St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "Not in the least." will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the gone. "I shall most certainly do so." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "What then?" safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "But your client--" ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "Entirely." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom awkward doing business with an alias." ashen face. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of weigh very heavily upon my conscience." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year which our visitor detailed to us. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle