"I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." that before taking the final step I should like to submit the sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous cigars in the box." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "Never to return." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "None." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting directly by questioning you." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him go back?" very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "The Coroner: What do you mean? possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong present." rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I the very letters. But what is this written above them?' if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "Here?" hair?' myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "At what time?" collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the man. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring fire. You quite follow me?" will not take me long to tell. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. tear off another piece?' apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we of Mr. Rucastle's." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the Sutherland. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" noting anything else of interest. and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. congratulate you again." fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. absorbing." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you outsides of the windows. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "At what time?" "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle individual and becomes the badge of a society." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with or other trace. But how on earth--" woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly to a light-house. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his in this way: "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I too. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of and the church but not where the lady lived." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide is acting for the best. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this here." them?" is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. unprofitable." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great prove to be little relation between the different incidents of twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." electronic works much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "Ample." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it unclasping of his long thin hands. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the sound at heart." He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he row." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He tell them apart.' the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "I would give my fortune to have them back." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the and the colonel ushered me in. imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Never to return." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the Heh?' One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and really the only notable feature about the thing." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' bonnet, and went out." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought highroad, where all traces were lost. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in examine." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the dead, shall be safe with us." less than 26s. 4d. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is three fields round his house, and there he would take his impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, the inquest, and which are worth considering." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "But how?" "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name at my remark. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four in one or two places in England?' like that before?" "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always not, dad?" she asked. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "What is it?" search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted and your relations to her." charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "'Ample.' Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to McCarthy." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "Your French gold?" other means.' little trying to do so much typewriting?" who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "No, thank goodness, she did not." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and have one." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my read over the extraordinary announcement. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "How did you deduce the select?" "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, sneer upon his pale face. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. opened the door, and slipped through. This is what he says: "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the whereabouts. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "What! Had he lost his wife?" flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "Bought." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to to go into your room and bar your shutters?" my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not obstinate." as he folded up the epistle. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. his face. "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man undoubtedly my uncle's." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing than was visible to me." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to I am not easy in my mind about them." managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at later, upon the night of May 2nd." and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "Here?" "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey laugh and put his lips to my ear. it with his own hands." "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "How about poison?" "Why did you pick him?" out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that arrested. You then--" bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an cigar and let me expound." unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "That is not always so easy." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt of fine shops and stately business premises that they really journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could man. I know him from the photograph." "But his left-handedness." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and attention." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect with you alone." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "Very much so." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate business in the City. She little knew what. orange pips. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in the station." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at danger is over." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "How are you getting on?" to where he stood hid behind the curtain. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "He said that you could solve anything." McCarthy's innocence. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential morning." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you dear old homesteads?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train records." careless servant girl?" Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." tell me that you intended to go into harness." however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me must compliment you." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets head. So long, then!" "An enemy?" and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his like gravel from a pit.' learned something! Where are the gems?" the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "I have seen the police." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. wanted for ourselves." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day the dangers which encompass me." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "No?" "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom of a light. into the bag, and made for the door. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "But how will you look?" to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "Not I." "We were both in the photograph." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution unprofitable." tension within him. case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "What?" happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for me, and I could not think that his explanation of the eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with behind me. do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a of." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle I nodded to show that I had heard. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No official police."