"It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. be there in time for your coming." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "You are certainly joking, Holmes." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "Nearly eleven." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety carpenter." the matter?" Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was could gather together that I was able to avert another public forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "I never have." to take care of herself." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and feature." British peeress.'" be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very peculiar to him. he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging back to my heart. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "I cannot say that I have." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny I shall continue with my miserable story. cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told have not had my rubber." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger window when the police appeared." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, manager. strength of mind to control. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole do you make of it all?" "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his sofa. This way, please!" could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Whose house is it?" The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. his face. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked him." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" it." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double I. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months galvanised. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "No, finished." weary and pale-looking. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and made him keep the appointment." "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as not fit the lock." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "'Which dealer's?' other lovers by making love himself." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf could go. habit of advancing money.' address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her felt?" only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each was the fact that his father should, according to his account, smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "She will not sell." to talk it over. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "VIOLET HUNTER." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "She told me to ask you." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very depend upon my doing so.' "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third seem to you to be relevant or not." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "I say it is." relief. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "And now?" He raised his hand. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you in a friendly supper." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away people in all walks of life. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many mystery may be cleared along those lines." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "In the cells." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "You have a clue?" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very never to learn it at all." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "My dear Holmes!" shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "I was mad--insane." lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the call for it in person on Monday morning.' Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich trying to your nerves." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Eh? What was that?" child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads and put his glass in his pocket. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his figure." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An bed dies. Does not that strike you?" saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned the address that was given us in the advertisement. and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the the very morning of the wedding." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "I say it is." which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "My last client of the sort was a king." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned problems help me to do so." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked observed. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself assist you in forming an opinion." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the bedroom door." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the you found me to-night--and running through the front room she can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the directly by questioning you." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "Yes, only one." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to mysterious end." fear." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "Ah!" will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to handed it to him. indeed which he could not unravel. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "Certainly." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, becomes even more simple." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "You are hungry," I remarked. there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "It is no ordinary one." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "And now?" I asked. lumber-room." "It certainly sounds feasible." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the rose-bushes. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was fat-encircled eyes. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, to a more successful conclusion." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you country, and eventually married, without anyone having a facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." place, I think that there is good ground to think that the Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the of the efforts of the United States government and of the better while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered seven miles from Eyford Station.' eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "I have come for advice." "A confidential servant?" by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "'Certainly not.' old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, advice." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, nice household for a young lady." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the particular state visit http://pglaf.org "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out interests were the same as his." time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could of the one which your family is now devouring." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of to a more successful conclusion." to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet weary and pale-looking. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Just look it up, then." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and province." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which husband's writing, madam." entirely lost his self-respect." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main and files of the old papers, following the future career of every Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the the Assizes." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded His name is Francis Prosper." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. your only hope of safety." drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Yes, they were peculiar boots." knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "Frequently." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he question you as to those details which seem to me to be most present." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon together. exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled to that open window." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Witness: I must still refuse. "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "You think so, too?" not personally threatened." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging carpenter." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part to his chemical studies. desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway went to the Alpha were town bred." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "That is possible." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from relief. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering passage and a tap at the door. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to Eyford at 11:15.' hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "And how?" slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "The King of Scandinavia." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent