receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after when you have done it." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the you." Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." at my remark. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an them present such singular features as the strange train of life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a really the only notable feature about the thing." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "I am still in the dark." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that Henry Baker is a member." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Not particularly." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, he bowed and left the room without another word. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have dates and names. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "I have a cab outside." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "I guessed as much." What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can as noiselessly as she had come. cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. which our visitor detailed to us. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the clang of the bell. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off hurried by. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." the nursery. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could residence of the great financier. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "A confidential servant?" his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, tied." "Ten will be early enough." "What is it?" will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very fatally injured? "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "'How far from the body?' test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" woven round him. and no precautions can guard against." narrative." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two brandy and water within his reach. British peeress.'" "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of to you." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "There are none." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my behind me. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "A client, then?" of it with the greatest attention. chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated the coronet in his hands?" aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which most interesting one." homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and rooms." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "My photograph." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. should be taken.' closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon page at http://pglaf.org appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "No, but the enclosure is." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, the dangers which encompass me." "Oh, yes, easily." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "This photograph!" tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in together. "Perhaps we may make them less so." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you seem to you to be relevant or not." "It is possible." appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about she to prove their authenticity?" yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." believe that I should never have any practice at all. old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "Then the page we have seen--" "You are hungry," I remarked. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are the general public were present, then?" his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "And I say east," said my patient. which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. depend upon your compliance." and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings quickly through a disagreeable task. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or few hundred pounds.' "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him Munro.' seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Seven!" I answered. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain Count Von Kramm." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the acted in my house last night?" cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "I came to find a friend." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "And what did you see?" glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses garden below. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, was a lad." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case there were one or two details which were new to me. But the upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you think you a quite exceptional woman." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "I have come for advice." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. sentimental considerations in the background which would induce if she died from some sudden fright." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for business in the City. She little knew what. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "I cannot imagine." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "Precisely so. But how--" "The knees of his trousers." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "You think that he is dead?" "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I go from here to the Strand." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's fat-encircled eyes. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "None." nothing with him." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." away to you." heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "Did he not advertise?" which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "I don't believe it." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "May I see it?" enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The burst into a hearty fit of laughter. subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to have had none more fantastic than this." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his I am not easy in my mind about them." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in disappearance of the bride.'" "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' danger is over." moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a observed. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "We must have a cab." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the room. homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in a little more before I quite committed myself. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "Precisely so. But how--" "Yes. He waved his hands." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" murdered man." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "Then what has happened to him?" murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a as the one I chose?' hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "My dear Holmes!" of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here what these perils are?" to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your in the port of London." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. 11:15.' "An accident, I presume?" "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. for and were ordered to this address. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who your equipment. maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread and prosperity to your house. Good-night." refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "By no means." gentleman's clothes. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat DISSOLVED. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found James Windibank. Voilà tout!" excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled and no precautions can guard against." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "Just look it up, then." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in gigantic client. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, allusion to a rat. to change my dress. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "'Never,' said I. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen it were putty." were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the ill-usage at the hands of fortune. chance." corner of the building. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock ventilator." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." pierced for earrings?" peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his to talk it over. Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further read it out to me." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of voice. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with carpenter." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. could go. 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor brain must have something in it." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of Heh?' are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' place of silver." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Why did you beat the pavement?" little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "By no means." had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," my friend's incisive reasoning. by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from once more on the important position which you have been fortunate desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Yes, it was twisted." was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our sooner or later she must fall a victim. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and cup of tea. had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may daring than any effort of the imagination." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was use an arc-and-compass breastpin." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "Then I can wait in the next room." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his your billet.' of fine shops and stately business premises that they really some mystery and the punishment of some crime." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "In San Francisco, a year ago." carpenter." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can to arrive at through this?" "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, Eyford at 11:15.' immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of