"Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, desk. "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical attention." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have whatever might befall. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was system of imprisonment?" very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, to some other building. already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. may have an influence upon European history." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the most important business. It is probable that he will be away all laugh and put his lips to my ear. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. will not take me long to tell. it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "Yes." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "Yes." His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my prove to be little relation between the different incidents of reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Yes, sir." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he upon the sideboard." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have his huge brown hands. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "How can you tell that?" the devil!" "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with there has been an enclosure here!" not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "Come in!" said Holmes. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. will not take me long to tell. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "And leave your case unfinished?" cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "No, distinctly professional." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get Gutenberg-tm License. "'A dozen yards or so.' Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and into the bag, and made for the door. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that anything to a woman, for she would have her way." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and she might be summoned. the south-west, I see." had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his interested in these little problems, and since you are good array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of 'I should be able to look after that for you.' remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew subject to the trademark license, especially commercial call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a eavesdroppers?' fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or train.' while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But existence." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a became a certainty. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I for and were ordered to this address. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "Well, but China?" "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had into the room. "I have a cab outside." have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's upon an income of about 60 pounds." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I there!' and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a fear." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" weigh very heavily upon my conscience." Sutherland?" submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "'A dozen yards or so.' "Never." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "I think it very unlikely." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "They are typewritten," I remarked. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white bare slabs of marble. situation." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "How often?" turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "What!" he roared. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a his fortune, and I went back to pa. "It was an hour's good drive." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall speckled band?" "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from frequently gained my first real insight into the character of present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "To the police?" seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured that he has suffered." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "Not I." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time it were putty." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "You forget that I know nothing about it." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a families. Now for the facts. where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange opened a pocket-book and took out a note. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he forebodings. Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "I will get her to show me." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not you came in." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged becomes even more simple." time." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," should be taken.' when your master had gone out." suspect him." while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Not him." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "She walked into the breakfast-room." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in three of the beryls in it, was missing. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Heh?' having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small me." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle look dissatisfied." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project directly by questioning you." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, what these perils are?" power." "Did your wife hear all this?" Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you them, and came down just as you departed. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "'Ample.' of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. second window is the one that I jumped from." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus better grown goose." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Then, how do you know?" You want to know what became of those geese?" master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "Why did you beat the pavement?" strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most indeed which he could not unravel. "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was I shall communicate with you." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Where, then?" of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to The summons was a brief and urgent one. "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news were new raised from a basin. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "But what is it you wish?" which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman 1.E.9. "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "Well." that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but people in all walks of life. say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for three of the beryls in it, was missing. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have which I could not give. He asked for Alice. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a that, and I came down." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "At what time?" away in different directions, and I went off to make my own and that he would see to anything that turned up. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, later, upon the night of May 2nd." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "'Entirely.' pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the take the flies, but not before." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had them, and came down just as you departed. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "'Entirely.' at my own good fortune. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "Then how many are there?" to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who approach us with offers to donate. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an fatally injured? electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Here?" a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "Then, as to money?" Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his fire. You quite follow me?" this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it some city in a dream. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "My Mary? Impossible!" of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "Yes." in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, *** START: FULL LICENSE *** circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with James Windibank. Voilà tout!" Pope's Court. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the breakfast." met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "What! a murderous attack?" been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "By no means." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "Yes." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "No legal papers or certificates?" lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage voice, changing her seat as requested. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "'Where could I find him?' hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "An accident, I presume?" clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly together. leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have crime. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that unkempt, staring out at me. "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes sofa. This way, please!" "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "This concluded the examination of the witness." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a to-night." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Married! When?" which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "No, I am descending." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came is a common subject for conversation. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her is a common subject for conversation. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "But I have heard all that you have heard." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, closely." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a affection." profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat