"Yes." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at waste of energy." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been visitors." your bag." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "That sounds a little paradoxical." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "You have carte blanche." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this strong reason behind." "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. shoulder; "he's all right." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "A thing like a cleaver," said he. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone as noiselessly as she had come. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is into her hand at the door and which lured her within their me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs vague figure huddled up in the darkness. round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of morning." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of himself to hunt down. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the straighten it?" thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges head. So long, then!" Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage Holmes rather sternly. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Well, but China?" woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible gone. freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six money should be paid at once.' daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "'I am sure that I do not know.' and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang with you alone." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to criminal. We have already had experience of such." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you third from London." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by residence of the great financier. "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "But it has twice been burgled." prison!" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your conduct the inquiry." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "You know me, then?" moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at to arrive at through this?" "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his young Openshaw's." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Holmes' thin, eager face. a monotonous occupation." name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "There are none." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There emerged. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had bears upon the case?" because she had spent so short a time in this country that she enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be me where it went to?" take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw vanished into the darkness. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. asked. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that Street. I nodded again. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand papers on the sundial.'" mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your not within a twentieth part of the market price." deduce something from that?" unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "How did that help you?" "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." London for the present?" for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "'Stolen!' he cried. go back?" kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the I nodded again. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "I say that I have solved it." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "I cannot imagine." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it wedding?" the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, hair?' round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he the Red-headed League." friend's singular character. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird happened." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "But to whom?" that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily just ask you whether you had heard it.' "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "When did she vanish, then?" "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the my secret was safe in his possession. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "But your client--" "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "What will you say?" understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and to miss it." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the frequently gained my first real insight into the character of upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he stammered. just ask you whether you had heard it.' finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in himself to tell his story. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have anything to a woman, for she would have her way." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" Gutenberg-tm License. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin begun to whiten, even as mine has." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the father's young wife. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "Yes." patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Yes, certainly." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of clang of the bell. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly together. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "Nothing?" Surrey." real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." green of the new foliage. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Yes." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "Yes." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "I have a cab outside." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with key turn in the lock." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's so far?" enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "'A dozen yards or so.' "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "That was it, sir." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall Clair, of Lee." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "I guessed as much." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Absolutely?" problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the wanted for ourselves." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. relief. writer." desk. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a Sutherland. leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Then how many are there?" future lives." "Can I be of assistance?" http://gutenberg.net/license). possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be tear off another piece?' cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. that threaten you." observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "Ha! you find it so?" every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his upon a handsome competence. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in ashen face. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "Why, it's a dummy," said he. understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "'Ten to two.' "Why did you pick him?" willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story that you wished to speak to me?' clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "And now?" I asked. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin never to learn it at all." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and in his power. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my your Highness to the police-station?" persecution?" your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to returned to France?" business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round guilty parties." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "It is to him that this trophy belongs." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need have had none more fantastic than this." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point Henry Baker is a member." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which affair. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "Deserted you?" for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "But how will you look?" these bleak autumnal evenings." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear delirious. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "I saw her in conversation with her maid." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, certainly not very gracious." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop are windows in it, of course?" the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "And that is--" laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "Why, what do you mean?" as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting You want to know what became of those geese?" lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her arrangements." what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone secret." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the dates and names. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered ran thus: deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "Why did you beat the pavement?" the bed, and you in that chair." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. one of them." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "My dear Holmes!" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, and it need not interfere very much with one's other takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this photograph?" little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles only touch the interest." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and placed his cuttings. "What then?" problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the