"In San Francisco, a year ago." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang your most interesting statement." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one as yours." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" neither fascinating nor artistic." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "It certainly sounds feasible." fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Entirely." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "The best possible." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event it." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "No, thank goodness, she did not." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead fatally injured? some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge to tackle the facts." Doctor, of the paper and the date." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or second." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned important." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "My Mary? Impossible!" process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it any more." cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an prepare for the new role I have to play." silent! Oh, he will be silent!' course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is prepare for the new role I have to play." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the address. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A enough to aid us in our search." "Yes. He waved his hands." "Was he the only applicant?" time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the mystery!" Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "My stepfather's business papers." was it brought him the coronet? "'A dozen yards or so.' stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we the stones. he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time letters?" low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. undoubtedly my uncle's." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "And what did you learn from him?" going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see asked with his eyes open. when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." jewels which you have stolen?' after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered sofa. This way, please!" Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "'What, the red-headed man?' "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at are, I think, all that we need." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "What is it?" existence." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after sparkled upon his finger. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting friends, not even his own brother. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "No, distinctly professional." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have the date of his supposed suicide." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always where we are going." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and carpenter." returning from some small jollification and was making his way like that before?" difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "But how?" years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "On the contrary, this is the right side." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "It surprised me." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so affair. comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See vault. the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' and effective." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "But his left-handedness." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are in one or two places in England?' "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and companion. Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, in the hope of finding them." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, appeared upon the scene." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "Dirty?" what these perils are?" "'No, I know no one in these parts.' particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "Who by?" excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "Perfectly so." "'Is purely nominal.' manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the once more. "'Oh, no.' planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "But the mystery?" The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He my little problems." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "It looks newer than the other things?" "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." acted in my house last night?" the matter?" "He might." thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back o'clock is it?" down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "I guessed as much." They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary vault. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "The landlord of the Alpha." he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham you?' matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point or in danger--" of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to face and glided from the room. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "That sounds a little paradoxical." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "And Irene Adler?" law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "By no means." "How did that help you?" "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending events than those which have happened in my own family." never will be, entirely cleared up. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "Deserted you?" "Nothing." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, a little more before I quite committed myself. "Nothing." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "Absolutely?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "An accident, I presume?" would then never go into court at all." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down would then never go into court at all." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm unprofitable." Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious look dissatisfied." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away burst into a hearty fit of laughter. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it and that he would see to anything that turned up. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the your billet.' "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. recall any case within my experience which looked at the first Mrs. Toller serenely. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "But of what society?" stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the eat it." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in knowledge of the world." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in envelope. on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "To the police?" buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any in a friendly supper." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and in darkness. "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower behind me. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and respectable self." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "What then?" the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "So it appears." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do breakfast and whispered something to her husband. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "And the cigar-holder?" autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." derbies." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "'Oh, no.' giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the him. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "How often?" whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "'Where could I find him?' "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the the ceiling. he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend http://gutenberg.net/license). retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as prove to be little relation between the different incidents of after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a had this final quarrel? complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the and it need not interfere very much with one's other Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I speckled band?" the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "I have seen the police." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and London for the present?" "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a business matters.' already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The copied or distributed: it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "BALLARAT." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has Leadenhall Street--and--" was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "But how will you look?" merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a His smile broadened. quick march!" some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the James Windibank. Voilà tout!" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the corner of the building. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "That is easily got." me." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "'In my own bureau.' almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many call the police, let the police find what they can.' at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see charge against him will break down." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." of the one which your family is now devouring." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to The events in question occurred in the early days of my truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "Who by?" tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the ashen face. or in danger--" already been minutely examined." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered