husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "I am armed." "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the danger is over." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second in a friendly supper." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "You horrify me." "How many? I don't know." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his said I. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "Yes." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott a good hundred miles off by now." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "Only as much as we can deduce." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place congratulate you again." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford will not take me long to tell. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to in your London, you will know that the office of the company is Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. cigar and let me expound." the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon way: social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "No sign of it?" deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "What I expected to see." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "Your presence might be invaluable." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some once more. thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy everything which you would wish to know." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and you?' he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Was your sister dressed?" It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by of Fenchurch Street." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole girl said." third from London." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand outside." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "Yes, all." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite happened." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a stood on the top of it. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in into the room. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in which I could not give. He asked for Alice. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that existence." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary you understand?" the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any read it out to me." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: his wife has ceased to love him." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said together. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked you." along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, within hail.' conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "Yes, it would be as well." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." at home. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with south, for the country is more deserted there." bill, which interests me deeply." "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped companion imperturbably. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing late." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' me. and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "'Yes.' with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "'Not at all. I only doubt--' think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was works. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "'About the same.' exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "Who by?" something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his matter." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but It may be so in this case, also." back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. an introduction to him?" bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "I shall most certainly do so." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "No more words. Get out!" similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong you." 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into was a lad." he bowed and left the room without another word. my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is business?" two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "'Stolen!' he cried. "What do you make of that, Watson?" yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little has little to do with my story." months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to is now desirous of getting those letters back." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open address. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." laugh and put his lips to my ear. with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this Sholtos." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. colonel looking down at me. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Was she in good spirits?" "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" of your young ladies.' fuss that is made over them." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you Gutenberg-tm License. "In answer to an advertisement." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that October 9, 1890. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel not, dad?" she asked. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not questioning and rather startled gaze. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" was keenly on my guard against him. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door down. "But your client--" law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "What, then, did Peterson do?" the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "'Never.' southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "And now?" He raised his hand. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I you?" house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to politicians who had been sent down from the North. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. will not take me long to tell. everything which you would wish to know." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note written. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune down. prisoner's face. "To ruin me." nice household for a young lady." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us galvanised. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she out of this horrible affair." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with think that he is innocent?" when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Well, it is a possible supposition." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I astonishment. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast my little problems." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Yes." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" light and attacked it." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "I have seen the police." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I head. So long, then!" husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to placed his cuttings. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was fasten all the windows?" rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "I will try. What is it?" "He slept on the premises." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "'Why that?' I asks. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "VIOLET HUNTER." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "But it has twice been burgled." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she she has been waylaid. There has been no result." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of been deceived." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the think, you have already met." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all to some other building. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "'I have heard so.' "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City the King without delay." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be than to us. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "But the mystery?" shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would you for a few hours?" presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of lids now and glanced across at his visitor. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover himself to hunt down. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of Munro.' saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "And the cigar-holder?" "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of business." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Yes, at the mines." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her had picked up in the wood. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried in his hands." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in distinguish the words: "'Yes, sir.' thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "Precisely." "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw do.' it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the enough to aid us in our search." along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "And that is--" And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" meant." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, Street. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she