maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I was lame." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this has little to do with my story." lips." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up directors have had misgivings upon the subject." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and ashen face. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been might have a private word with us. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "Yes." "I don't believe it." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, good for you to do.' and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, matter over." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. enter Dr. Roylott's room." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. carriage. It was a chestnut." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "When did she vanish, then?" Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then morning." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "'Very good.' "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. round with crates and massive boxes. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society the general public were present, then?" to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand a monotonous occupation." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the entirely lost his self-respect." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, whole matter to your consideration." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of ashen face. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again From what you have told me I think that it is possible that time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I really the only notable feature about the thing." "Why, what do you mean?" "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a to a more successful conclusion." a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An married her." records." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and the King without delay." another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your particular state visit http://pglaf.org "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a absorbing." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. and the whole place is in a blaze." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional which our visitor detailed to us. morning." of it with the greatest attention. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "How did you deduce the select?" outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have long narrative. at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect for securing the situation." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "'Not at all. I only doubt--' back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was hurried by. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin papers on the sundial.'" and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an asked with his eyes open. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that call you and give you the chance." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now 1.E.9. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "She will not sell." three of the beryls in it, was missing. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "Because he was handy and would come cheap." the room while you explain this matter?" "'It is locked up,' I answered. perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in dates and names. "It is very clear." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "You have but to name it." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore chambers. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to said he at last. When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I the nursery. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police Young McCarthy must be got off, however." last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said presume?" as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, Holmes' room. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of anything to do with the matter?" typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you and that he would see to anything that turned up. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun leave you to your papers for a little." There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must cigars in their mouths. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the bed, and you in that chair." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "If so, much may have happened between." "Stoke Moran?" said he. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen front of me. time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do of it with the greatest attention. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "Imitated." country, and eventually married, without anyone having a to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened Watson," he said cordially. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was crime. "You are certainly joking, Holmes." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Why did you beat the pavement?" "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it face and glided from the room. desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their the ceiling. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, rat could hardly pass through." seen the man in the road." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "But you can know nothing of this?" receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the all-comprehensive glances. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence and put his glass in his pocket. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which written. once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "She walked into the breakfast-room." "'Yes, sir.' caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "No." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "And leave your case unfinished?" lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had *** START: FULL LICENSE *** directly by questioning you." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their had a long day." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "I have hopes." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they shaken than I had ever seen him. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside question. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I power." excitement. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very redistribution. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "Then I shall certainly come." I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "Then you may be so with me." up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "Only as much as we can deduce." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a This is what he says: http://gutenberg.net/license). with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "What are they?" It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear carried out of court." DISSOLVED. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. learned something! Where are the gems?" carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Then I shall certainly come." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "I think that it is very probable." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to chamber." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it during the last few years, and there are many noble families to whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? British peeress.'" "The murder was done with it." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am some place of shelter and let the county police know what has there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; within hail.' "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then there has been an enclosure here!" or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "Yes, only one." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "And what then?" coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at formed some opinion?" knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said at home. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you there in twenty minutes." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but people don't know." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened is," said he presently: re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from narrative." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "Certainly." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." new duties?' and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such nothing of it?" that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder fat-encircled eyes. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "What of the rat, then?" down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a becomes even more simple." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his should be so warm over such a trifle." feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his families. Now for the facts. pound a week." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black room. clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the six. Come in!" "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into