the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "At half-wages, in fact." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on in your London, you will know that the office of the company is certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution detained." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this when your master had gone out." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was completely overtopped every other consideration that we both brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said you." "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an heavy and sharp instrument." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been certainly not very gracious." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do his grey eyes. other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The waste of energy." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "Imitated." very morning of my second wedding." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis that you wished to speak to me?' man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this one or two very singular points about this room. For example, case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with allusion to a rat. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "'Certainly not. But why?' Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "No, finished." Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few happened." I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Not in a good cause." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "She told me to ask you." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness bearing upon the case." ourselves in the office." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "That was it, sir." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "The knees of his trousers." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the washing it down with a long draught of water. "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "'Oh, no.' "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the cup of tea. The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried Surrey." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having Lee, in the county of Kent." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in to affect your life." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to in his hands." the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out interest. They are important, you understand, without being the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, works. See paragraph 1.E below. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no The note was undated, and without either signature or address. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was empty. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the your troubles." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, his huge brown hands. such person." waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked outbreak?" like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror it." "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are his fortune, and I went back to pa. comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Entirely." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious detained." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. Project Gutenberg-tm works. "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "Very well, sir. And this stone?" and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the window when the police appeared." the coronet in his hands?" them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "By no means." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he possible that we could bring him back to her? Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other the coronet in his hands?" was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of may never be exposed to such a temptation." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on memory. he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that test if we have an answer to our advertisement." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in persecution?" footfalls from the street. more terrible than the truth. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I results." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "You did not overhear what they said?" the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the said he at last. his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you because she had spent so short a time in this country that she The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause to arrive at through this?" harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "No." handed it to him. heavily into it. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" you want, then?' impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your in. interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of side. but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, all?" quick march!" foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from wife's character?" my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." should be so warm over such a trifle." hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, character. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, father's young wife. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when awkward doing business with an alias." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks my little problems." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "I should like to see him very much." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I place no limit on the sum I may draw." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "Dark enough and sinister enough." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as tension within him. "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "No. What a strange idea!" danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old October 9, 1890. inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "You have but to name it." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and was it brought him the coronet? "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they one or two very singular points about this room. For example, in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out unprecedented a position." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, was shining brightly. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "Just look it up, then." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "Pray do so." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. your own bird, so if you wish--" "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man meanly of me." The telegram which we eventually received came late one night never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "I was afraid that you were engaged." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a American. Then who could this American be, and why should he the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "Yes, at the mines." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud so.' all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "'How far from the body?' "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his maid will bring up your coffee." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they the inquest, and which are worth considering." too. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, you found me to-night--and running through the front room she One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "No, but the enclosure is." leaning back in his chair. "Always." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook cheerful." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' breakfast?" While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they fled together." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "I have my revolver," said I. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' opened the door, and slipped through. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "It looks newer than the other things?" "You think so, too?" "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "But of what society?" "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, official police." saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." have had none more fantastic than this." "And is that all?" about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your made his money." "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "Not I." "Yes, from Horsham." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "And the cigar-holder?" and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it four million human beings all jostling each other within the leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Yes." "You will not go there first?" "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which away to you." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came