"Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "I should be immensely obliged to you." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can before, for it was considerably after midnight. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "Absolutely none." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at Have you good authority for what you say?" reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. lost nothing by them." has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster appeared upon the scene." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the just called myself is not exactly my own." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "Not yet." wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be better in every way that they should make their position a little "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed of." "I do." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father written, and locked the door of the office after me. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very mystery." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I pound a week." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would rose-bushes. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm bed dies. Does not that strike you?" hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle if I call to-morrow?" my friend's incisive reasoning. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who investigation." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, throat." this poor creature." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right silent! Oh, he will be silent!' face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you forbidden door. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, never to learn it at all." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "What! You do not mean bodies?" ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "I guessed as much." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a now. It seems that there had been some informality about their into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, it were putty." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried Holmes' thin, eager face. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. Stoke Moran." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of than was visible to me." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was mystery." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to were wasted." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. the ceiling. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "VIOLET HUNTER." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have Countess of Morcar's?" "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his little trying to do so much typewriting?" "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the will be renamed. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and we went to search for him, face downward in a little burst into a hearty fit of laughter. call you and give you the chance." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that question. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb John Swain, of St. Augustine. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "This concluded the examination of the witness." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which Count Von Kramm." precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not voice, changing her seat as requested. direction." which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Did your wife hear all this?" "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Yes, only one." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "And when will you call?" an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "'Oh, no.' thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. ventilator." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will morning." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have said I. "'I am sure that I do not know.' standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "Married! When?" in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, conclusions. first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the not fit the lock." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, closing the door. game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "But his lameness?" where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "I should wish to." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and present." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "Witness: I must still refuse. quickly through a disagreeable task. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "But she will refuse." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the amused." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." done what I asked you, Jones?" results." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at It may be so in this case, also." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. shoulder; "he's all right." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far presume?" human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit Munro.' out of this horrible affair." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that lectures into a series of tales." fled together." "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "Was he the only applicant?" course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw directors, with the result that you have seen." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, to have that photograph." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. someone who had been in Australia." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch call you and give you the chance." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur correct than the official force." the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, as this. Pray let me have the details." 1.E.9. astonishment. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler peculiar to him. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable was already answered. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not unprofitable." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive to tackle the facts." immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. not come at once?" "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "The King of Scandinavia." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "Did you observe the colour?" official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before passage and a tap at the door. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such and glanced through. "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "I see many objections to any such theory." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "There are none." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. call the police, let the police find what they can.' opportunities to fix the problem. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business matters immensely." It may be so in this case, also." there is a decided draught." "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. morning." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his once more on the important position which you have been fortunate woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Perfectly so." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he Does that suggest anything?" answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "And how did you find out?" 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you as the one I chose?' "But he might be a bachelor." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will guilty parties." "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, society." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There that he will be back before evening." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave such person." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own means taking possession of that which another person has a prior hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. any." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year the salesman. that you can jump it.' "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "It must be recovered." coat-tails." Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "Holmes, the busybody!" of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." Street. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "Game for a morning drive?" pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "In heaven's name, what for?" want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "Where to?" room. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "No, thank goodness, she did not." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, points in connection with it which never have been, and probably chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since father's young wife. spare." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "'And the work?' my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Texas, I think." scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left burst out into a roar of laughter. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his waste of energy." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a his eyes and forehead. to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "I have my revolver," said I. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive appeared upon the scene." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he highroad, where all traces were lost. difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. was feeling which was the fattest.' "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." This is what he says: of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and in the hope of finding them." face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the nonsense.' to a light-house. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he have been better. It is all right." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we have an American origin." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "About a month then." throat." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches she slowly sank and died without having recovered her ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with come either from the window or the door. My attention was from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and crackling voice. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the of it with the greatest attention. "The vanishing of the lady." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid whether it answered to the description of any of their "'Which dealer's?' return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "It may not come to that," said Holmes. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "I beg pardon." "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "He said that you could solve anything." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "Yes, I have one waiting." felt the room to be a little close.' former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "And did you observe any change in her then?" Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Frequently." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. him to be an active member of the medical profession." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "And when will you call?" "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the