he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. come either from the window or the door. My attention was bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps him." to have that photograph." "She showed me, as I told you she would." been with you?" round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of crime. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper and your relations to her." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as do.' all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an delighted to hear it," he said. "Was the window open?" floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with the ceiling. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to III. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." his face. Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "Thank you. Pray proceed." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw For additional contact information: "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to closing the door. more terrible than the truth. "But I have heard all that you have heard." little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were as yours." "Absolutely none." retorted upon me, and I on you." in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell mystery may be cleared along those lines." Leadenhall Street--and--" "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in companion. colonel looking down at me. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "But she could not love him." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from legal crime." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." money should be paid at once.' relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer peculiar to him. "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "A greater distance to travel." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Was she in good spirits?" in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "Yes." should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Yes." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the eavesdroppers?' future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "'It is locked up,' I answered. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere you found me to-night--and running through the front room she To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. do you make of it all?" down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "You heard nothing yourself last night?" Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I figure." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly daring than any effort of the imagination." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his your most interesting statement." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Yes." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "I came to find a friend." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my man. this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "The gentleman I describe." "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "I promise," said Holmes. "And how have you succeeded?" slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." your troubles." should be so warm over such a trifle." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Where, then, is my wife?" difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "Why? What do you mean?" the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the fishes. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were that the gas is not laid on in his house?" upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." the house with me." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." attention." fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the murdered man." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." dramatic, in fact." was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "How did you trace it, then?" difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business results." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as burst out into a roar of laughter. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they to talk it over. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And present." and the church but not where the lady lived." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "This concluded the examination of the witness." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "No bad?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the entirely devoid of interest." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the ago." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. late." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall do you make of it all?" "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after out of this horrible affair." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the the armchair which I pushed forward for him. of his shoulders. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Texas, I think." man. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Certainly." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what the dangers which encompass me." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "That is not always so easy." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. outbreak?" so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who II. may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from power." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under went to the Alpha were town bred." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will business at Coburg Square is serious." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, a little more before I quite committed myself. has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are room?" as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I business?" Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian best detective that ever lived. "Witness: It was. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should to go into your room and bar your shutters?" no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "But we can't all be." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "Well?" even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's he died? which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "Then I am your man." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and had formerly been in part my own. "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "Tired-looking or fresh?" were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "That sounds a little paradoxical." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and hurried away. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "Do you go out much in society?" "Very truly yours, case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the girl said." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to floor. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "It is half-past ten now." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical and wait." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its walking." impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at fattened it expressly for you.' array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," south, for the country is more deserted there." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "That was it, sir." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to forebodings. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Nearly eleven." "I am armed." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing yourselves in at night?" with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I it means?" Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at murdered man." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your it." "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his trifles." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not before the coroner and the police-court." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Nothing." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of lamp in his hand. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it country, and eventually married, without anyone having a was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United if only as a check to my own memory." would then never go into court at all." "Then what has happened to him?" really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "I am following you closely," I answered. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "That is unusual in a young girl." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his to-night." "Then you may be so with me." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with Watson," he said cordially. ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "What steps will you take?" I asked. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night.