turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the not use it unless it is absolutely needed." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Proceed, then." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the look upon these things in a different way." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of papers diligently of late, have you not?" God! What an exposure! What can I do?" in a very precise fashion." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced this man was intellectual?" "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his feature." the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "'And the work?' think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the voice. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "'I have already given you my word.' counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity giving me time to thank him. hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some jewels which you have stolen?' read it out to me." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple think that he is innocent?" Again Holmes raved in the air. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in miles off. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a the King without delay." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle new acquaintance to Baker Street. placed his cuttings. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who in the dead of the night?' Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "She will not sell." "Oh, fresh and glossy." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm never to learn it at all." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." the coronet in his hand?" back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. IS "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "I say it is." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the some mystery and the punishment of some crime." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of unclasping of his long thin hands. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look bell. Holmes whistled. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "I assure you that I am in your hands." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had been." or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "By no means." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a you want, then?' before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Here?" by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, that there was nothing in it, after all." client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "What are they?" "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "Just look it up, then." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to eat it." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for Again Holmes raved in the air. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "And how did you find out?" his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "Pray be precise as to details," said he. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its the coronet in his hands?" "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "What! a murderous attack?" Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon these bleak autumnal evenings." ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "What steps will you take?" I asked. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then prison!" appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "And that is--" thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." imbecility!" he cried. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "I have hopes." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given she used." given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "What are they?" "Here?" With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel certainly not very gracious." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our the very letters. But what is this written above them?' shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "And is that all?" "'Is purely nominal.' "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction upon the white wrist. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you together. seen the man in the road." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place sooner or later she must fall a victim. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an Pool. letters?" down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "Well, some hundreds of times." "Yes." "But she will refuse." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a had picked up in the wood. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "'Yes, it was gone.' With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing furiously. entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, said he. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a Street. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he danger is over." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg at a side door. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the her also." of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "Murdered?" "Will you go?" matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "One of the highest in England." "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "I was afraid that you were engaged." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the into the bag, and made for the door. to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "I cannot say that I have." were new raised from a basin. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked never to learn it at all." "Why, what do you mean?" "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "Was there a secret marriage?" which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he nonsense.' right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive delirious. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a weighed down with some great anxiety. back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly your most interesting statement." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end spare." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are nonsense.' there were so many in the whole country as were brought together conduct the inquiry." them?" to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors not, dad?" she asked. "Your French gold?" "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, train from Paddington which would bring you there at about or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander been with you?" "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so.' inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the his face. "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance closing the door. felt the room to be a little close.' be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in business at Coburg Square is serious." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "How did that help you?" I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to The events in question occurred in the early days of my "And now?" I asked. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "The best possible." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the the driver. knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the I approached. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." and no precautions can guard against." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect already been minutely examined." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to see a sister of mine apply for." putting in the horse. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was the coronet at all injured?" "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, coroner's jury." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "I have my revolver," said I. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle the inner apartment." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me fact, we may call it conclusive." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman over here." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I it." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," Watson," he said cordially. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between Holmes' face clouded over. rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Thank you. And your address?" police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in I shall communicate with you." "Yes." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Precisely." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at once more. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing License. You must require such a user to return or pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own intrusion of other matters." madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with like gravel from a pit.' caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I letters?" and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! to tackle the facts." "From his hat?" "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted the Friday. Was it to be in church?" slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel the coronet in his hands?" Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant so far?" furiously. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too there when the Rucastles went away." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their within hail.' "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." married her." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met must be when I saw the door open.' sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "If I can be of use." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had