"Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "It certainly sounds feasible." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before chambers. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to call the police, let the police find what they can.' had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "I think that it is very probable." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" that he will be back before evening." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this in the port of London." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and you understand?" the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' danger is over." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "'There is a drive, then?' me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If Surrey." salesman. "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which to you." "Pray do so." is four-and-twenty." which are rolled in Rotterdam." then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. will take you up to see the machine.' well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. mystery!" journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot new acquaintance to Baker Street. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of colour had been driven from his face. her also." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "Not in a good cause." who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "And the cigar-holder?" so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were interest. They are important, you understand, without being For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "None." "What then?" "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two clang of the bell. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all carriage. It was a chestnut." strong and stiff." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "And that is--" late." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "'What, the red-headed man?' "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "I was certainly surprised to find you there." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar it." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united to talk it over. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are villagers almost as much as their master. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his south, for the country is more deserted there." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "Very much so." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "I don't believe it." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it wedding?" servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." point in the dark hollow of his hand. wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. over here." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "So it appears." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our chambers. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no over part of the map. "What do you read?" glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that me. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Will you go?" murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "If so, much may have happened between." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "'Where to?' after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no said he at last. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended newspaper selections." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some your room." to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. garden below. "And why?" thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "Stolen." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "I am sure." elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project and that he would see to anything that turned up. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and hurried by. chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire developed." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Entirely." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he ventilator." voice, changing her seat as requested. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' address. makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "And why?" flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' bore every mark of being an average commonplace British indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his which should have the effect of calling the attention of the lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some goes." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my gentleman's clothes. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these your bag." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem the King without delay." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "But you have hopes?" the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "What of the rat, then?" "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such that, and I came down." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" assist you in forming an opinion." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "What! a murderous attack?" "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far redistribution. "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "You have but to name it." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, round and wave him away like that.' vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "But not more so than I to find you." "You are all wrong." "It was." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small voice, changing her seat as requested. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE matter over." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy quick march!" "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but your only hope of safety." but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing my secret was safe in his possession. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten the bed, and you in that chair." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. Stoke Moran." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned I am not easy in my mind about them." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There highroad, where all traces were lost. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "Her father is very rich?" leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "From his hat?" gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "What of the rat, then?" himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and too. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Did you observe the colour?" My friend smiled. straightened it out again. Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Holmes, the busybody!" Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "Perfectly so." have got?" continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Seven!" I answered. Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their bird of prey. "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, in a friendly supper." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was *** START: FULL LICENSE *** company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" not interfere, come what may. You understand?" not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll a good hundred miles off by now." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "Well, some hundreds of times." "I think it very unlikely." "That is possible." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, been." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "One?" dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "So I have heard." "'Ample.' Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug very morning of my second wedding." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." been deceived." in his hands." all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I weary and pale-looking. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I fire. You quite follow me?" mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most breakfast and whispered something to her husband. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "Absolutely none." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, business matters.' he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. depend upon my doing so.' detective. out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely giving me time to thank him. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a approach us with offers to donate. case before our client came into the room." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "Here?" glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. lamp. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "Well." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "And help." father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "About a month then." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction such person." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a papers on the sundial.'" lost his Christmas dinner." "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "And why?" located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "The murder was done with it." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in congratulate you again." in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project where Mr. Fordham shows you.' Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment certainly do as you advise." you in yours." "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the weapon." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much colour had been driven from his face. clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, had formerly been in part my own. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "She will not sell." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is are windows in it, of course?" dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, introspective fashion. companion quietly. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is in the port of London." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." papers diligently of late, have you not?" feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this outsides of the windows. taking in every detail of the apartment. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she how narrow had been my escape. value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the thirty. delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. when you have done it." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether,