dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from Young McCarthy must be got off, however." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." locked. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "It surprised me." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing weigh very heavily upon my conscience." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he already referred to. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that strode off upon his way. written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Can I be of assistance?" Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in he bowed and left the room without another word. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, arrested. You then--" "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. http://www.gutenberg.net I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and written. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "Where, then, is my wife?" one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "You have carte blanche." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "And for present expenses?" conceal it?" outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "My dear Holmes!" up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. intrusion of other matters." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his as noiselessly as she had come. "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such appointment with me for six o'clock?" copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "What then?" disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social bears upon the case?" was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel such attractions and accomplishments?' the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over I am not easy in my mind about them." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "No. What a strange idea!" circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. fatally injured? "Just look it up, then." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything long narrative. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "Eh? What was that?" surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "'Entirely.' from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a again on its way. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to results." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the chance at all." "No sign of it?" affection." not come at once?" "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small better in every way that they should make their position a little parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "Really! You surprise me." entirely devoid of interest." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built already referred to. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "But what will you do?" Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "'Tell me all about it,' said I. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the the very morning of the wedding." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg of Fenchurch Street." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "'Ten to two.' unclasping of his long thin hands. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned the date of his supposed suicide." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "'Is 4 pounds a week.' and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the companion. road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" fled together." But Holmes shook his head gravely. and the church but not where the lady lived." "Then, as to money?" remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor as this. Pray let me have the details." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Very truly yours, were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. nonsense.' At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what kindly on the shoulder. place of silver." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, lectures into a series of tales." here and I will read it to you: "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles to have that photograph." away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and row." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the congenial hunt. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else opened the door, and slipped through. Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which his huge brown hands. and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. delirious. uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "'Stolen!' he cried. mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her coat-tails." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how himself to hunt down. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon observed. is so. I know all about McCarthy." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. Chief Executive and Director great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "What I expected to see." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "You saw the ventilator, too?" whereabouts. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. now. It seems that there had been some informality about their this poor creature." so far?" It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and problems help me to do so." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Yes, at the mines." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has respectable self." your bag." "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Witness: It was. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally hair?' "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have points in connection with it which never have been, and probably the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "I know where it is." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "And Miss Sutherland?" that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe the Red-headed League." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "To an end?" black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us way in everything. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case since then to throw any light upon what became of him." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "I shall be delighted." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a could go. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight undoubtedly my uncle's." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "I am armed." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "How do you know, then?" in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and him. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "Very truly yours, Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." at once, for I have only half an hour." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "The doctor?" "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "Then how many are there?" he died? my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them it were putty." "'Ten to two.' continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' have established a very serious case against the son of the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case But Holmes shook his head gravely. her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," observed. son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "'About the same.' while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of had died away into the silence from which it rose. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, mystery." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "But she could not love him." "She will not sell." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "If so, much may have happened between." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish think that he is innocent?" "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one and all of them with the keenest interest. address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong cigars in the box." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, both be extremely obliged.' upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the neither fascinating nor artistic." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. without a word or a look. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. several quiet little villages up there." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove the room while you explain this matter?" which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the whereabouts. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "I am about to be married." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. there is a decided draught." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going The note was undated, and without either signature or address. no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' the best of training." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "It missed him, then?" were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the completely overtopped every other consideration that we both his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her becomes even more simple." "And you can do nothing until then?" but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain might help us?" quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause Sutherland?" wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." the bed, and you in that chair." and laid it on the table. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the yet." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the there!' "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each guilty one." with you alone." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "'Yes, it was gone.' days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, go from here to the Strand." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "No?" out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you some mystery and the punishment of some crime." I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, lost nothing by them." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "I will do it." and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "I answered that I had not. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I passage and a tap at the door. him to be an active member of the medical profession." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the But Holmes shook his head gravely. memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my License. You must require such a user to return or of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the I nodded to show that I had heard. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "'Then let me do so?' "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any skylight. "They are typewritten," I remarked. stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "How often?" The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a question you as to those details which seem to me to be most They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to